British advertising giant WPP has enjoyed a dramatic stock market rally after investors backed early signs that chief executive Cindy Rose’s turnaround strategy is beginning to gain traction.
Shares in the London-listed group surged by around 27% following its half-year results, marking one of the company’s strongest single-day performances in years. The rise leaves the stock up around 15% since the start of 2026, although it remains almost 60% below where it traded five years ago after a prolonged period of decline.
The market reaction came despite WPP continuing to report falling revenues, with the company insisting 2026 remains a year of “stabilisation” under its Elevate28 recovery plan before a return to growth is expected next year.
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Revenue for the first half fell more than 3% year-on-year to £6.4bn, while revenue less pass-through costs declined by almost 5% to £4.7bn. Operating profit slipped 2.7% to £398m.
However, investors welcomed signs that trading is beginning to improve. Organic revenue less pass-through costs fell 2.8% in the second quarter, an improvement on the first three months of the year, suggesting the pace of decline is easing.
Rose, who is approaching her first anniversary as chief executive after joining from Microsoft last summer, said WPP’s restructuring is beginning to deliver results.
“We are living in a golden age of marketing,” she said, although she added that “it is a really tough time to be a Chief Marketing Officer,” with brands increasingly looking “to consolidate around fewer, more integrated partners who can simplify things for them and help them grow.”
A central part of the strategy has been simplifying WPP’s structure into four core divisions – WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions – replacing a more fragmented agency model.
The changes have seen a number of well-known agency brands merged or closed, but Rose said clients were responding positively.
“What matters to me is how we’re winning,” she said. “These are integrated, multidisciplinary mandates awarded to WPP as one team. This is the direct result of the strategic changes we’ve made to our client proposition.”
She added: “All the changes we made were in direct response to client feedback. Now that we’ve made the changes, clients are responding positively.
“We’re showing up as one WPP instead of multiple different agencies. We can really put the right talent in front of the right clients at the right time, without all of the friction and constraints of our historical structure.”
The restructuring has also come with significant job losses. WPP cut a further 1,267 roles during the first half of the year, taking its workforce down 6.4% over the past 12 months to 104,083 employees. Staff costs fell by £216m to £3.7bn, although the company incurred an additional £51m in restructuring costs.
The group said it remains on track to deliver £100m of savings this year as part of its Elevate28 programme, which targets £500m of savings by the end of 2028 through portfolio simplification, reducing duplication and further restructuring.
Despite Thursday’s rally, WPP is still recovering from a difficult period that saw it lose its place in the FTSE 100 and surrender its position as the world’s largest advertising holding company to France’s Publicis.
