WPP will close the book on a tough 2025 on Thursday (26 February) when Cindy Rose publishes its annual results and, more importantly, the long-awaited outcome of her strategy review at an investor day.
Rose, who joined from Microsoft as chief executive on 1 September, brought in management consultants from McKinsey to advise on the review as she bids to turn around the fortunes of the British agency group.
The last 12 months have been turbulent as Mark Read announced his departure in June amid a string of big account losses. WPP went on to issue two profit warnings in July and October as its revenue decline worsened. WPP’s stock price fell almost 60% in 2025.
So what should people look out for when Rose and Joanne Wilson, the chief financial officer, and the wider leadership team take to the stage on Thursday?
Campaign highlights five key issues, based on what equity analysts are predicting ahead of the investor day.
1. Launch of WPP Creative
Morgan Stanley predicted that there will be no breakup of its creative or media divisions, as “return to growth is likely to be the priority."
However, Rose is widely expected to announce the creation of WPP Creative as a subsidiary umbrella group for its creative agencies at the investor day.
Reports first emerged earlier this month that WPP is planning to launch WPP Creative to house AKQA, Ogilvy and VML.
WPP declined to comment but analysts at BNP Paribas said sharing “back-end resources, technology infrastructure and go-to-market capabilities” should “reduce duplication and make it easier for clients” to access all of the group “through a single relationship."
Morgan Stanley noted that the move would “mirror” WPP Media’s consolidation in 2025 and “if successful, could enable WPP to deliver a more consistent product offering”. WPP also consolidated its production capabilities, including Hogarth, in new unit WPP Production in January.
2. More change at WPP Media?
Last year, a big shake-up of the media arm was a hot topic for the industry as Brian Lesser, the chief executive, made a significant number of redundancies and changed the division’s name from Group M to WPP Media.
There were some major media losses such as Mars globally and Coca-Cola in North America, but there were some signs of recovery at the end of the year.
WPP Media won the UK government’s $2 billion (£1.5 billion) media account and Jaguar Land Rover said it intended to appoint WPP to its global marketing and media account. That helped WPP to top JP Morgan’s new business rankings for Q4 2025.
Morgan Stanley analysts said 2026 growth “may be better than expected too”, and they expect WPP to focus on indicators such as business wins, rather than revenue growth, as proof of a turnaround.
3. Leveraging AI
Analysts are expecting artificial intelligence to be a large component of Rose’s strategic review, especially given her nine years at Microsoft, where she was chief operating officer for global enterprise.
WPP has launched WPP Open Pro, which helps marketers create campaigns independently, and recently invested $400 million in Google as part of a deal to embed AI more deeply into its working practices and, earlier this week, announced a deeper partnership with Adobe to drive AI transformation.
Citigroup noted that it is “too early” to expect a significant contribution to WPP’s growth, but a “positive update would be important” in the AI era.
They added that investors want to see how companies are leveraging AI to find “new growth vectors," not just internal efficiencies.
4. Selling non-core assets?
Citigroup is predicting that “disposals” could be a strategic option for WPP, with “net proceeds adding financial stability."
The bank suggested that the network could sell its minority stake in Kantar or dispose of its PR assets, most likely Burson.
However, the bank did note that management is unlikely to highlight its intention to sell assets, as this could undermine the network getting the best value.
Contrastingly, Morgan Stanley thinks the network could leverage its existing 40% stake in Kantar, which collects data on consumer behaviour and shopping habits.
“Whilst we believe WPP's data assets are not as strong as peers' data assets, a deeper integration would help improve WPP's product offering,” analysts said.
The bank added that WPP was under pressure to improve its data product offering and expects a focus on the integration of InfoSum, which Lesser used to run, as well as a focus on Kantar.
5. Financial performance and “cost synergies”
WPP has already warned investors to brace for a tough Q4, and Morgan Stanley predicted that revenue, less pass-through costs will have declined 7.6% on an organic basis in the final three months of 2025.
“The continued volatility in client spending patterns, coupled with the fact we have a limited cushion from net new business to absorb this heightened level of volatility, is leading us to approach our guidance for the full year with a high degree of caution,” WPP said in an aide memoire published ahead of its results on Thursday.
The network said it expected like-for-like revenue for the whole of last year to be down between 5.5% and 6%.
Citigroup said there was potential for “cost synergies” from the creation and simplification of WPP Creative, as well as “leveraging AI in its workflows”.
Morgan Stanley added it does not expect to see a “major headcount reduction." WPP previously cut 7000 roles, or about 6%, in the 12 months to June 2025, taking its headcount to 104,000.
WPP is a “show-me story”, and the market will need to see an “improving trajectory before gaining confidence," the US investment bank said.
Source: Campaign UK
