WPP plc (WPP)

Price£3.75Cached quoteAs of 2026-09-05 09:31 UTC

AI: Undervalued

Price checkThe shares look cheap if WPP can preserve even its reduced cash generation.

Using 1.079 billion shares from the supplied 2025 history, the observed market value is about £4.1 billion. 2025 operating cash flow was £724 million and capital spending £91 million, leaving about £633 million of free cash flow, meaning cash left after running and investing in the business. That is roughly 6.5 times the equity value, or a 15% cash yield. Adding £2.24 billion of net debt lifts the valuation to about 10 times free cash flow. That looks cheap, but only if 2025 cash generation is repeatable.

Big pictureProfit collapsed in 2025, so the bargain depends on earnings stabilizing rather than growing quickly.

2025 was a sharp deterioration: revenue fell 8.1% to £13.55 billion, operating income dropped 71% to £382 million, and a £542 million 2024 profit became a £215 million loss. Operating cash flow also fell 49%, while free cash flow dropped from about £1.22 billion to £633 million. The history shows WPP can produce much more cash in stronger years, but it is clearly cyclical and exposed to client budget cuts and account losses. The valuation therefore discounts a weak business, not a stable compounder.

Business strengthCash generation remains useful, but debt, acquisition balances and weak working capital limit downside protection.

Year-end cash was £2.69 billion against £4.94 billion of debt, leaving £2.24 billion of net debt. Current liabilities exceeded current assets by £1.67 billion, while £6.95 billion of goodwill, the balance-sheet value carried from acquisitions, was almost three times £2.54 billion of equity. Capital returns are now restrained: 2025 dividends of £343 million used about 54% of free cash flow. Share-based pay fell to £73 million, and shares outstanding were essentially flat versus 2024, so recent dilution has been modest.

What could change the storyA credible recovery in client spending would unlock value; another revenue slide would erase it.

The bull case needs stabilization, not heroic growth. If annual free cash flow stays near £600 million, the current equity value is only about seven times that cash; a recovery toward £800 million would make the shares look very cheap. The bear case is that client losses, weaker advertising spending and restructuring costs push sustainable free cash flow toward £400 million while debt stays above £2 billion. WPP's announced £500 million cost-saving program could improve margins, but savings must eventually outweigh further revenue declines.

AI: News

Interim results reliefAugust results showed weak trading but enough stabilization to ease fears of another immediate downgrade.

On August 6, 2026, WPP's interim update showed that client spending and account performance were still soft, but it did not bring another major reset of expectations. The important valuation signal was stabilization after the sharp 2025 deterioration, not a return to strong growth. Progress against the £500 million cost-saving program also matters because durable savings can support cash generation while revenue remains pressured. The bull case still needs second-half evidence that the underlying revenue decline is bottoming.

Strategy and dividend resetFebruary's plan cut shareholder payouts and targeted major savings to rebuild cash and margins.

On February 26, 2026, WPP paired its 2025 preliminary results with a strategy reset, including a £500 million cost-saving ambition and a lower dividend. Management-reported headline diluted earnings were 63.2 pence per share, while the supplied statutory history showed a £215 million net loss, highlighting the difference between adjusted and reported profit. Lower payouts and structural savings can preserve cash and reduce debt, but they create lasting value only if WPP also stops losing revenue and important client accounts.

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Financial statements

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
Revenue	£13.55B	£14.74B	£14.85B	£14.43B	£12.80B	£12.00B	£13.23B	£13.05B	£13.15B	£14.89B	£12.24B
Gross profit	£2.15B	£2.45B	£2.52B	£2.54B	£2.20B	£2.01B	£2.41B	£2.49B	£2.66B	£3.04B	£2.53B
Gross margin	15.84%	16.63%	16.97%	17.60%	17.21%	16.79%	18.20%	19.07%	20.27%	20.43%	20.65%
Operating expenses	£1.76B	£1.13B	£1.99B	£1.18B	£974.6M	£4.29B	£1.11B	£1.24B	£1.09B	£977.7M	£894.1M
Operating income	£382.0M	£1.32B	£531.0M	£1.36B	£1.23B	−£2.28B	£1.30B	£1.25B	£1.58B	£2.06B	£1.63B
Operating margin	2.82%	8.99%	3.58%	9.41%	9.60%	−18.98%	9.79%	9.54%	12.00%	13.86%	13.34%
EBITDA	£930.0M	£1.94B	£977.7M	£1.81B	£1.67B	−£1.74B	£1.80B	£1.45B	£1.79B	£2.32B	£1.86B
EBITDA margin	6.86%	13.17%	6.59%	12.54%	13.07%	−14.46%	13.63%	11.15%	13.59%	15.60%	15.21%
Net income	−£172.0M	£629.0M	£197.0M	£775.0M	£720.7M	−£2.90B	£937.9M	£901.1M	£2.06B	£1.50B	£1.25B
Net profit margin	−1.27%	4.27%	1.33%	5.37%	5.63%	−24.17%	7.09%	6.91%	15.67%	10.09%	10.18%
Basic EPSper basic share	-£0.20	£0.50	£0.10	£0.62	£0.53	-£2.43	£0.68	£0.66	£1.56	£1.10	£0.90
Diluted EPSper diluted share	-£0.20	£0.49	£0.10	£0.61	£0.53	-£2.43	£0.67	£0.65	£1.54	£1.08	£0.88

Review official source filings ↗

Owners

Reported major voting-rights holders

FCA threshold notices

8.58%of voting rights

FIL LimitedNotified Oct 31, 2025

View holders

Reported major voting-rights holders of WPP
Holder	Voting rights
FIL Limited	8.58%Oct 31, 2025 · 92.6M votes
RWC Asset Management LLP	5.25%Nov 6, 2025 · 56.6M votes
Schroders Plc	5.06%Nov 19, 2025 · 54.61M votes
BlackRock, Inc.	4.76%Apr 8, 2026 · 51.36M votes
Mondrian Investment Partners Limited	4.60%May 22, 2026 · 49.63M votes

These are threshold-crossing notices, not a complete ownership register. Percentages show issuer voting rights held through the listed share class, exclude financial instruments, and come from different dates. Positions may overlap.

Gray completes the 100% scale; it is not an estimate of other owners.

Source: FCA National Storage Mechanism ↗Updated Sep 27, 2026