WPP Group posted worldwide growth in April, the first time the advertising holding company has seen an increase on a worldwide basis since the downturn hit at the end of 2008.
Speaking at the International Advertising Association Conference in Moscow, WPP CEO Martin Sorrell said the group had experienced “a significant change in April,” resulting in him “starting to see for the first time growth in [the] business on a worldwide basis.”
Last month, Sorrell upped WPP’s forecast from flat to 2% growth for the year, despite revenues dropping 1.82% year-over-year in Q1 2010.
However, the results also showed WPP’s specialist digital companies, including 24/7 Real Media, Schematic, Blue Group and Quasar, experiencing like-for-like growth of more than 9%.
With digital marketing one of the business’ drivers for revenue growth, WPP also announced it has acquired two leading Brazilian digital agencies, Midia Digital and I-Cherry, for an undisclosed sum. The agencies, specializing in digital and search marketing, were both founded in 1995.
Revenues of Midia Digital and I-Cherry for 2009 were a combined $5.3 million, with gross assets of $1.5 million.
Based in Curitiba and Sao Paolo, Midia Digital employs 91 people with clients including HSBC, O Globo, Porto Seguro, J&J, Magazine Luiza and Tecnisa. I-Cherry employs 34 people and clients include Petrobras, Lopes, Terra, Macht.com and Guia Mais.
