Sorrell tells May to get on with Brexit

Business needs the Government to get on with Brexit and the details of leaving the European Union, the boss of the world’s biggest advertising group said today.

WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell said: “British business wants certainty and resolution while the Government wants to string it out.

“The process around Article 50 and withdrawal will last a long time when, from a business point of view, people want it to be done quickly.”

But he added that after a “tepid” April, May and June in the run-up to the referendum, “July was stronger, perhaps reflecting a post-Brexit vote recovery, but even so it’s difficult to figure out what’s really going on yet.”

Sorrell said his business was watching developments to see how exiting would affect it. “It depends what is negotiated and what the results are,” he said.

“If it means tax changes, changes to trade or a change in the status of London there will be implications.”

Sorrell, who campaigned vigorously for Remain, has said his business could expand faster in Europe than in the UK as a result of the vote.

But he pointed out that, with its emphasis on the US and western Europe, WPP was still likely to grow faster than its global rivals.

July sales were boosted by a “visually spectacular” Rio Olympics, while US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s reluctance to spend on advertising could be “something he lives to regret if he loses”, said Sorrell.

He nudged growth forecasts for revenues for the year up from “over 3%” to “well over 3%”.

First-half revenues jumped 11.9% to £6.5 billion with headline profits up 16% at £690 million. Both were ahead of analysts’ forecasts and the shares rose 95p, or 5%, to 1842p.

Statutory pre-tax profits fell 40% to £425 million after a writedown of £122 million on the value of WPP’s 20% stake in data analyst Comscore.

Comscore has been hit by an internal accounting probe, which started in March and which Sorrell said he was “appalled has not been sorted out yet”. Management ws recently overhauled.