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WPP acquires eCommerce digital agency Salmon
MUMBAI: Global media communications company WPP has acquired 100 per cent of Okam Limited, the holding company of the UK-based digital agency Salmon Group.
Salmon has expertise in technical and business areas and provides digital consulting, design, delivery and support services to leading retail, wholesale and manufacturing brands including Akzo Nobel, Argos, Game, Halfords, Kiddicare, Morrisons, Selfridges and Premier Farnell.
The acquisition reflects the increasing importance of eCommerce to retailers, manufacturers and brand owners in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets. eCommerce sales in the UK are growing at 10 per cent per annum and account for all the growth in retail sales. Salmon will be in a position to partner with the rest of WPP to broaden its offer and develop its business internationally.
Salmon has a worldwide workforce of 420 people with offices in the UK, in China and in Australia. Salmon will continue to operate as an independent and stand-alone brand within WPP and be led by CEO Neil Stewart.
Stewart said, “With increased client exposure and access to new geographies, our partnership with WPP will help fuel the next stage of our evolution into a global full-service digital delivery agency. We are delighted to be able to do this whilst preserving Salmon‘s independent culture and maintaining our focus on serving our clients.”
WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell said “The application of technology to marketing continues to accelerate, not least in the retail market and success requires close collaboration between our clients‘ marketing and sales organisations and their IT organisation. Close collaboration between Salmon and WPP‘s other agencies will allow WPP to bring clients a tightly-integrated solution across both marketing and technology and help both the CMO and CIO deliver customer-centric multi-channel solutions – yet another example of where CMO and CIO have to work together.”
Salmon‘s consolidated unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 October 2012 were ?34.3 million, with gross assets of ?11.3 million.
WPP‘s digital revenues (including associates) are budgeted to exceed $6 billion in 2013, over 33 per cent of the group‘s total revenues, which in 2011 totalled $16 billion. WPP has set a target of 35-40 per cent of revenue to be derived from digital in the next five years.
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WPP’s profits fade as client cuts and AI bets reshape strategy
Ad giant posts 5.4 per cent LFL sales drop, cuts dividend and jobs, bets on AI turnaround.
MUMBAI: It appears the world’s largest advertising group has found that even the best pitch cannot always sell a difficult set of results. WPP’s 2025 preliminary results reveal a year where the creative juices were flowing, but the cash followed a somewhat more sluggish current.
The headline figures suggest that WPP spent much of 2025 swimming against a persistent tide. Like-for-like (LFL) net sales, which are defined as revenue less those pesky pass-through costs, slipped by 5.4 per cent. The group attributed this slide to a double whammy of client losses and client spending cuts, particularly in the final quarter where the chill was felt most acutely.
Reported revenue stood at £13,550 million, which was down from £14,741 million in 2024, while headline operating profit took a 22.6 per cent tumble to £1,321 million. This left the headline operating margin at 13.0 per cent; this was a drop from the 15.0 per cent seen the previous year and was driven largely by negative operating leverage and the costs associated with saying “goodbye” to staff.
No corner of the globe was entirely immune to the slowdown. The UK saw a LFL net sales decrease of 7.6 per cent, while North America dipped by 4.6 per cent. China proved a particularly tough market with a sharp 14.3 per cent decline, though India offered a rare silver lining with growth of 3.8 per cent.
Sector-wise, the pain was most visible in Telecom, Media and Entertainment, where spending cratered by 10.1 per cent. Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) also tightened the purse strings and was down 7.1 per cent. Conversely, Healthcare & Pharma remained a healthy outlier, as it grew by 2.1 per cent.
In response to the squeeze, WPP has been busy reorganising the furniture. Structural savings are being wrung from the mergers that created VML and Burson, alongside a simplification of WPP Media. Headcount has been trimmed significantly; it fell from approximately 108,000 to 99,000.
The company also took a massive £641 million hit on goodwill impairment, which was primarily linked to its Ogilvy and AKQA brands; this reflected a more cautious outlook on their carrying value.
Despite the tightening of belts, WPP is not skimping on the future. Investment continues to pour into “WPP Open”, its AI-driven operating system, as the group bets big on data and generative technology to regain its edge.
However, the immediate horizon remains a bit misty. Guidance for 2026 suggests that LFL revenue less pass-through costs will continue to decline by mid to high-single digits in the first half of the year. While an improving trajectory is expected in the second half, investors are being asked for a fair amount of patience.
The dividend has also felt the pinch, with the total payout for the year slashed to 15.0p from 39.4p in 2024. For now, it seems WPP is focused on making its own brand more efficient before it can get back to winning over the rest of the world.
