WPP Shares Tumble After World's Largest Ad Group Cuts Guidance

By Nick Kostov and Lara O'Reilly

WPP PLC shares tumbled Thursday after the world's largest advertising group cut full-year guidance and confirmed it is seeking to sell a stake in market-research unit Kantar Group, underscoring the challenges facing new chief executive Mark Read.

Its shares were down as much as 20% in early London trading.

The U.K. company said it now expects like-for-like net sales to fall by between 0.5% and 1.0%. Previously, the company had expected like-for-like net sales to show trends similar to those experienced in the first half, when like-for-like revenue rose 1.6% and comparable net sales were up 0.3%.

Mr. Read, who took the helm in September, has said WPP can get back to historical levels of growth despite the disruption hitting the ad industry.

"We are clearly underperforming our competition, it's something we are aware of and it reinforces our determination to take action to invest in the business and make the changes we need to make," he said.

Adria Calatayud contributed to this article.

Write to Nick Kostov at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com and Lara O'Reilly at lara.o'reilly@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2018 03:38 ET (07:38 GMT)

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