WPP has kick-started a potential sales process for its public relations arm, which could pave the way for the embattled advertising group\u2019s first major disposal under a dramatic structural overhaul set out by its new boss.<\/p>\n
Advisers at Goldman Sachs are exploring strategic options for Burson on behalf of the embattled British advertising group, which could pave the way for an eventual sale of the communications agency.<\/p>\n
It comes as Cindy Rose, who was appointed to lead a turnaround of the British advertising group in September, embarks on a plan to simplify its sprawling operations<\/a> and return the group to growth.<\/p>\n Its public relations operations suffered the worst decline in revenue last year, falling 6 per cent on an underlying basis.<\/p>\n Burson was formed via the merger of BCW and Hill & Knowlton, WPP\u2019s two largest communications agencies, in 2024 and employs about 6,000 people globally.<\/p>\n A sale would mark a near-complete exit from PR for WPP, which sold its majority stake in FGS Global to KKR, the private equity firm, which valued the City communications firm at \u00a31.3 billion.<\/p>\n WPP and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.<\/p>\n WPP has been grappling with a series of high-profile client losses<\/a> and a macroeconomic downturn that has prompted brands to pull back on advertising spending, which Rose acknowledged had contributed to a performance that was \u201cjust not where it needs to be\u201d.<\/p>\n Under her \u2018Elevate28\u2019 strategy, Rose, 60, is aiming to stabilise the business this year and return to organic growth next year. She is also looking to sell non-core assets and has set out a plan to find \u00a3500 million in cost savings by 2028.<\/p>\n The traditional holding company structure, with hundreds of operating units, will be scrapped in favour of an integrated business around four divisions \u2014 WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions \u2014 across four geographic regions.<\/p>\n The shares have fallen 53 per cent over the past 12 months and are also 37 per cent lower since Rose, who had been a non-executive director on WPP\u2019s board since 2019, took charge. The company was demoted from the FTSE 100 in December.<\/p>\n The former Microsoft executive can count some early new business wins, including the global media account for Est\u00e9e Lauder, the beauty company, and the European media work for Henkel Consumer Brands.<\/p>\n Shareholders are set to vote on a more lucrative remuneration package for Rose at the group\u2019s annual general meeting on May 8. Under a new compensation policy set out in the company\u2019s annual report last month, Rose could be entitled to a total package of up to \u00a314.2 million<\/a> if she lifts the company\u2019s share price by 50 per cent.<\/p>\n By comparison, the maximum potential payout for her predecessor, Mark Read, was \u00a38.6 million for 2024.<\/p>\n The advertising group is due to report its first-quarter earnings on April 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WPP has kick-started a potential sales process for its public relations arm, which could pave the way for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-523565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}