WPP reported an organic net revenue decline of 1.6% in the first quarter of 2023, the company reported today. 

The holding company said it posted growth in the UK and Europe but those gains were off-set by declines in North American and Asia. 

North America, the company’s biggest region by revenue was down 5.2%. WPP said the drop was expected due to continued reduction in spending by technology clients as well as client losses at creative agencies and GroupM.  

That said GroupM posted 2.4% growth in the quarter, while the company’s integrated creative agencies (VML and Ogilvy among them) were down by a combined 3.3%. GroupM and the integrated creative agencies comprise WPP’s global integrated agencies division, which overall was down 0.7% for the quarter. 

The company’s full-year growth outlook remains unchanged: organic growth of up to 1%, but no less than flat.  

WPP CEO Mark Read said the results were “very much in line with our expectations.” 

Read said the company is “on track to return to growth in the balance of the year, supported by an encouraging new business pipeline and the strength of our business creatively and in media, both powered by new AI capabilities.” 

Net new business in the quarter was $800,000, including new assignements from Nestle, Perfetti, AstraZenecas, Canon, Molson Coors and others.  

Net revenue for the quarter was nearly 2.7 billion GBP, down 5% on a reported basis.