WPP cut 1,267 employees in the first half of the year. Revenue fell over 3% at the same time, while restructuring costs rose and the group pushed ahead with Elevate28.
The reductions amounted to about 1.3 per cent of WPP’s total staffing. Cindy Rose, tapped by WPP last July and given the turnaround brief, set out Elevate28 in February with a £500m cost-saving target by the end of 2028.
Cindy Rose’s 2028 target
£500m is the savings target Rose set for Elevate28, which aims to return WPP to its core focus on media and advertising. Against that backdrop, the company is still taking out cost: it cut total staff costs by £216m in the first half to £3.7bn and said part of the savings were offset by a rebuilding of its incentive pool.
£130m is the new size of that pool, more than double the prior level. For employees, that means the savings push is not flowing straight through to the bottom line; some of the headroom is being redirected back into compensation.
WPP revenue slips to £6.4bn
£6.4bn was WPP’s half-year revenue, down over three per cent from a year earlier. Revenue less pass-through costs fell nearly five per cent to £4.7bn, and operating profit dropped 2.7 per cent to £398m, showing the pressure is still hitting both the top line and earnings after direct costs.
104,083 employees remained on WPP’s books at the end of the period, after a 6.4 per cent workforce reduction over 12 months to June. That leaves fewer people carrying the same turnaround agenda after last July’s leadership change and the loss of the FTSE 100 slot last year.
£250m cost burden remains
£250m is what WPP now projects in full-year restructuring costs, including £190m triggered by Elevate28 and £60m tied to legacy programs. The company also said it is on track for £100m in savings in 2026, while expecting in excess of £200m from selling non-core assets.
£200m-plus from disposals is the part of the plan still moving through the portfolio review, and Rose described that process as “ongoing”. The unanswered test is how much more cash the remaining sales can add beyond that 2026 amount, with the near-term bill still running ahead of the first-year savings.
