WPP outlines restructure, looking to save £500m in annual costs by 2028

(Sharecast News) - WPP said on Thursday that it was planning to save £500m in annual costs by 2028 as it looks to restore growth. As part of the restructuring, the advertising firm will become a single company, streamlined into four operating units across four regions, all unified by its "pioneering agentic marketing platform", WPP Open.

The new multi-year strategic plan, 'Elevate28', aims to simplify and integrate the company's client proposition, restore growth "and drive long-term value for clients, talent and shareholders", it said.

WPP said that transitioning from a holding company structure to a single company will simplify its business to deliver "fully integrated, AI-enabled solutions through four core operating units". These will be WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions across four regions, North America, Latin America, EMEA and APAC.

Chief executive Cindy Rose said: "Today we are unveiling a bold plan for a simpler, more integrated WPP. Our intention is to stabilise the business, return to organic growth, create capacity to invest in the future and deliver attractive returns for our shareholders.

"Our recent underperformance has been driven by excessive organisational complexity, a lack of an integrated operating model and inconsistent strategic execution. While disappointing, I see huge potential as these issues are all within our power to fix and we're already making great progress."

News of the overhaul came with the company's preliminary results, which showed that headline operating profit fell to £1.32bn in the year to the end of December 2025 from £1.71bn the previous year.

Revenue less pass-through costs declined 10.4% to £10.18bn.

Looking ahead, WPP said it was encouraged by the improvement in new business in the fourth quarter and early 2026. However, organic growth is a lagging metric and as such it expects LFL revenue less pass-through costs to decline in the mid to high-single digits in the first half of 2026, with an improving trajectory in the second half.