WPP Plans to Sell Up to 80% Stake of Kantar, CFO Says
November 15 2018 - 12:29PM
Dow Jones News
By Adria Calatayud
BARCELONA--WPP PLC (WPP.LN) plans to sell a stake of up to 80%
in its market-research unit Kantar, as it readies a turnaround plan
to address its recent weak performance, Chief Financial Officer
Paul Richardson said Thursday.
Last month, the world's largest advertising group said it would
seek to sell a majority stake in Kantar and retain a minority
holding in the unit. The size of WPP's remaining stake in Kantar
would range from 20% to 49% depending on the price, Mr. Richardson
said at a Morgan Stanley conference in Barcelona.
The company has identified further, smaller disposal targets and
is working to offload them in a bid to cut its debt-to-earnings
ratio, WPP's CFO said.
A third of WPP's business faces structural challenges, Mr.
Richardson said. To adjust to current demands from customers, the
company needs to shift away from a structure of global networks to
service big campaigns and be closer to consumers, emphasize its
real-time activity and be cheaper for clients, he said.
The company has found that its structure is becoming an issue,
WPP's CFO said.
WPP already owns strong digital-content assets and therefore
doesn't need to buy more, Mr. Richardson said. One of its
priorities going forward will be to integrate those digital assets
with traditional creative activities, he said.
In September, WPP merged its creative agency Young & Rubicam
with its digital-ad firm VML and the group is due to unveil a new
strategy on Dec. 11.
Write to Adria Calatayud at
adria.calatayudvaello@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 15, 2018 13:14 ET (18:14 GMT)
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