While Japanese advertising giant Dentsu, world number five, had to postpone the publication of its quarterly results due to the Covid-19 crisis which disrupted its accounting procedures, the other four majors of the sector all reported results strongly affected in March and which will be more severely affected in the second quarter, suggesting significant staff reductions.
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The world number one, the British WPP, recorded a 3.3% decline in its revenue in the first quarter, and 7.9% in the month of March alone. Its main competitors fell in the same way: Omnicom (-2%), Publicis (-2.9%) or Havas (-4.4%), with the exception of Interpublic remained stable (+ 0.3% ) due to its lower exposure to European markets.
In the first three months of the year, the 30% drop in WPP activity in mainland China, the first market hit by the health crisis, suggests the extent of the damage for all groups in the second quarter.
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