From Cazenova just now .... DYOR .... but quick :)

WPP - upgrade to OUTPERFORM - interims due 26 Aug which we expect to be strong, reflecting gd Q2 fig's already reported by peers. We see potential for EPS upgrades of up to 5%-10% N/T (combination of top line, margin & US$). L/T we expect EPS growth of up to 17%-18% pa before maturing at 11%-12% pa. Key risks are (1) further M&A (2) prem valuation (17.1x 06 EPS before any upgrade), representing a 31% prem to UK mkt & 33% to UK media sector. Despite this we still believe it has room to outperform. Our DCF valuation gives 760p, 28% upside from here.

Thanks queen1,

Some info from over the weekend:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/08/21/cnwpp21.xml

WPP's fine forecast will cheer industry
By Guy Dennis (Filed: 21/08/2005)


WPP, the UK-listed advertising giant, will on Friday unveil a sharp rise in first-half profits that may boost confidence in the media sector.

The company, which owns advertising businesses including JWT and public relations companies including Buchanan Communications, is understood to have lifted headline profits before tax to about 250m in the first half of this year. This is a rise of around 25 per cent on the first half of last year, once changes in accounting rules, known as IFRS 17, are taken into account.


Sir Martin Sorrell: If I was 25 years old again, I would learn Chinese and go to Shanghai
In the UK, WPP, which is led by chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell, is believed to have grown revenues slightly in the six months to the end of June. This is likely to surprise many media executives who have complained of a worsening UK advertising market.

Although the UK accounts for only about 15 per cent of WPP's total revenues, the company's performance is seen as a barometer for the market. Sorrell's views on the prospects for the advertising industry are influential and closely watched by investors.

Sorrell famously described the recovery from the worst downturn in the advertising industry as "bath-shaped". Last October, continuing his theme, Sorrell argued the industry had emerged from the bath, but warned about "damp showers" in 2005.

WPP's fastest-growing market is believed to be Latin America, where there has been a sharp rebound in the Argentinian economy, combined with continued growth in Mexico and Brazil.

Other rapidly growing markets for the company have been Eastern Europe, India and China.

The company is expected to report a rise in first-half revenues in China of between 20 and 25 per cent. It recently won a major account from China Telecom.

This is likely to have pleased Sorrell, who in a recent interview said that if he could be 25 years old again, he would "learn Chinese and go to Shanghai".

Success in fast-growing areas including internet advertising and direct marketing by WPP subsidiaries such as Wunderman and OgilvyOne have also helped boost the company's profits. WPP is increasingly viewing marketing services as a two-speed industry, split between high-growth areas such as the internet and more mature markets such as network television with slower growth.

The results this week are also likely to show that WPP is successfully integrating Grey Global, the US advertising company that it last year agreed to buy for 845m.

Sorrell has been keen to dramatically increase operating profits at Grey via synergies with the rest of WPP: merging computer systems, using property more efficiently, and using the larger group's purchasing power.

WPP's results are also understood to include a rise in total revenues of about 20 per cent to about 2.4bn, and a rise in earnings per share of about 25 per cent to around 13.5p per share.

Over the past year WPP shares have slightly outperformed the FTSE100 index, rising by 23 per cent compared with a 22 per cent rise in the index.

one more article, may not be that important though! lol

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/08/22/cnjwt22.xml

Adland pulls plug on man's lustful ineptitude
By Rosie Murray-West, City Correspondent (Filed: 22/08/2005)


One of the world's leading advertising agencies has committed itself to "smart, positive portrayals of the modern man," after a book by one of its executives said that the media portrays men as victims of lust and ineptitude.


On the same wavelength: Michael Buerk
Marian Salzman, vice-president of JWT, says that masculinity has become an "easy target" for mockery. In her new book The Future of Men, she says advertising and marketing businesses need to rethink their approaches to gender.

JWT, the fourth-biggest advertising network in the world and owned by media giant WPP, now says it wants to help its clients to break out of this stereotypical way of looking at masculinity, and reach a modern male audience.

"For several decades, women have dominated the attention of marketers, whereas men have been all but ignored in most categories," says JWT Worldwide chairman and CEO, Bob Jeffrey.

"Men have faded into a collective boob-dom, a sort of Jackass meets The Man Show meets The Simpsons. As a result, the way we approach the men's market is ripe for reinvention." In her book, which is due to be published in September, Ms Salzman says that men have finally become fed up of being "the butt of every joke".

Ms Salzman's comments will resonate with newsreader Michael Buerk, who caused a furore last week by claiming that life is now being lived according to women's rules and that men had been reduced to little more than "sperm donors".

However, Ms Salzman argues that men need to do something about this state of affairs, by fighting against an inertia that tells them that they will always be top dogs at home and in the workplace. "This isn't a battle that women will instigate or fight on men's behalf," she says.

Her book analyses the portrayal of men in film, on television and in advertising, where Ms Salzman says the depiction of masculinity is the worst. She believes men are commonly portrayed as victims of their sexual organs, their lust, their emotional neediness, their ineptitude, or their overinflated egos.

Ms Salzman is well-known as a "futurist", a person who defines ongoing trends for the coming years. She is known as as one of the first to coin the term "Metrosexual", in 2003.

Daws Hi,

Excellent posts, keep 'em coming :)

Cheers,
PM

Bit boring today! buys outweighted sells and what was significant was most of the sells we're small tiddlers but some of the buys we're rather chunky. Anybody else intrested in this? Nobody's posted on the advfn thread for months - now that must be a good sign... lol

Daws

Daws Hi,

Looks like being pushed down towards the results (by the MM's/shorters ??), crazy really, as the Cazenova DCF is 7.50-ish, the results will make the price go up big time on friday anyway, hopefully :)

These are the realm of funds, institututions, and big P.I's, not small cap pump n dumps for advfn muppets :))))

Cheers,
PM

Paul,

Price is pretty stable, nothing to worry about really. Expecting a blue day on Friday and a gradual rise next week, whilst the results set in :-)

Daws

There has been some upwards movement in the sp over the last couple of weeks, due I suspect to the anticipation of good results on Friday. Could we therefore be disappointed with no push next week as the good news may already be factored in?

Queen1, hard to tell until we see the results i guess. The sp hasn't really moved with any significance and has been keeping with the trend since May.
I'm very hopeful of a move above the 610 range, which should signal an attack on this years previous high (625) and then onwards and upwards. In the short/medium term the trend is very much our friend. The company seems to be heading in the right direction and all signs are good.

Daws

Afternoon,

Last chance for people to buy before interims tommorrow. Could see some decent buying before the bell.

Daws

more good news ahead of tommorrow

Broker snap: WPP on good form

Date: Thursday 25 Aug 2005

LONDON (ShareCast) - Ad agency WPP was on top form today after ING turned buyer on the stock ahead of first half figures due tomorrow.

ING upgraded WPP Group to 'buy' from 'hold' saying it sees no room for disappointment concerning the figures, unlike next weeks European rival TF1.

ING said that since full-year results were published six months ago, WPP has underperformed Publicis and the FTSE 100 though this trend is now expected to reverse.

ING raised its price target for the advertising group to 710p from 600p.

Daws Hi,

Lets hope the figures live up to all the expectations :)

Cheers,
PM

Paul,

Things look very good! Couldn't find any issues at all. No point posting the interims (very long read!) But anybody is interested i think you should take a look.
Price targets are being raised left right and centre and we're bound to get some good weekend press.

Daws

Profits soar at WPP
MoneyAM
WPP Group, the world's second largest advertising services group, reported a sharp rise in pretax profits.

The group said trading prospects for the full-year remain good.

WPP, which owns businesses including advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and public relations company Buchanan Communications, said headline pretax profit before goodwill amortisation for the six months to June 30th rose 32% to 254.8m, compared to the analyst average forecast of 250m, from 193m a year earlier.

Revenue rose almost 22% to 2.47bn, from 2.02bn in line with the analyst forecast 2.4bn.

Hi All,

Reuslts are out, profit up 32% just like Cazenova suggested two weeks ago, which was the reason for me startting this thread. It took a while for the other analysts to upgrade WPP, they only did that yesterday !

Lets hope the S.P flies up to 7.50 over the next few days :)

Another PM1 success ????

Cheers,
PM


WPP reports sharp rise in H1 profits

LONDON (AFX) - WPP Group PLC, the world's second largest advertising
services group, reported a sharp rise in half-year pretax profits in line with
expectations and said trading prospects for the full-year remain good.
WPP, which owns businesses including advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather
Worldwide and public relations company Buchanan Communications, said headline
pretax profit before goodwill amortisation for the six months to June 30 rose 32
pct to 254.8 mln stg, compared to to the analyst average forecast of 250 mln
stg, from 193.0 mln stg a year earlier.
Revenue rose almost 22 pct to 2.47 bln stg, from 2.02 bln stg in line with
the analyst forecast 2.4 bln stg.

Daws Hi,

SNAP !!!!

I only saw your post appear after I posted :))))

Onwards and upwards :)

Cheers,
PM

LOL - cracking set of results, looking forward to some blue days ahead. Can't wait for all that tasty weekend press, which includes Monday!

Daws

Just topped up :)

Cheers,
PM

Compare the Cazenova forecasts to the results, and even they were conservative ....

WPP - upgrade to OUTPERFORM - interims due 26 Aug which we expect to be strong, reflecting gd Q2 fig's already reported by peers. We see potential for EPS upgrades of up to 5%-10% N/T (combination of top line, margin & US$). L/T we expect EPS growth of up to 17%-18% pa before maturing at 11%-12% pa. Key risks are (1) further M&A (2) prem valuation (17.1x 06 EPS before any upgrade), representing a 31% prem to UK mkt & 33% to UK media sector. Despite this we still believe it has room to outperform. Our DCF valuation gives 760p, 28% upside from here.


WPP

2005 INTERIM RESULTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH IFRS
---------------------------------------------

Billings up almost 24% at #11.3 billion
-----------------------------------------
Reported revenue up almost 22% to #2.5 billion
-----------------------------------------------
Like-for-like revenue up 6%
----------------------------
Headline operating profit up over 31% to #300 million
------------------------------------------------------
Headline profit before tax up 32% to #255 million
---------------------------------------------------
Diluted headline earnings per share up almost 28% at 13.8p
-----------------------------------------------------------
Net earnings up over 45% to #135 million
-----------------------------------------
Interim ordinary dividend up 20% to 3.00p per share
----------------------------------------------------

Get the profit takers out of the way, and let the institutions and funds pile in, they know what WPP are worth, and the growth, and they would love 25% profit from these, even if it takes them a few months or up to a couple of years to get it, that would still make it a good performer for them.

They don't pile in until a few days after the news ....

Cheers,
PM

Paul, bit surprised by the markets reaction. Still expect to finish the day blue, the results are there for everyone to see!

Daws

Not sure there has been a rash of profit taking Paul, the SP has been under selling pressure prior to the results. Sometimes there is no explaining the Markets reaction to a good set of results. On this occasion I don't think that the good news was already in the SP, so therefore we should see some healthy rises over the coming weeks. Fully agree Daws and would expect to finish in the blue, at the very least in the region of 590, trendline support.

pth