WPP Rebuffs Redundancy Reports

A report in the UK's Observer newspaper which outlined WPP's plans to cut thousands of jobs in Western Europe and North America has been denied by a company spokesperson.

The report said that the cuts had been agreed following budgetary meetings between divisional heads and CEO Sir Martin Sorrell which took place in November and December. It also indicated that the marcoms group - which employs more than 100,000 people - may be increasing its headcount in South America, Eastern Europe and Asia where demand for market research and public relations continues to grow.

In October, WPP reported a 16% increase in Q3 revenues and announced that its Insight and Consultancy arm Kantar grew 4.0% to £246.7m during the quarter, on a constant currency basis.

According to the report, some shareholders are concerned about debt levels following WPP's £1bn+ acquisition of rival TNS in October. But analysts say that WPP is well placed to beat the recession as many of its employees are on temporary or part-time contracts.

Web sites: www.wpp.com and www.kantargroup.com .

In mid December, some of the world's largest marcoms groups announced they would be making thousands of job cuts in their advertising companies, while their MR agencies were barely affected. Omnicom said at the time that its MR firms, which include Flamingo, Hall & Partners and M/A/R/C Research, are unlikely to be affected by the cuts.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.