‘Unacceptable’: WPP’s Cindy Rose outlines changes after poor third quarter

WPP’s freshly inaugurated CEO Cindy Rose has said it’s time the group acted “a little less like a holdco and a little more like a co,” as she promised change after an “unacceptable” third-quarter result.

The world’s largest advertising group recorded an organic decline of 5.9%, with quarterly revenue of A$4.8 billion (£2.4 billion) excluding client-billed costs.

The decline was largely driven by WPP’s global integrated agencies division, which accounts for 86% of the business and has recently suffered major client losses, including Bayer and Mars.