LONDON (Reuters) - WPP (LON:WPP), the world's largest advertising group, said it had made a good start to the year as it reported an underlying rise in first-quarter net sales of 2.9%, which it said put it on course for full-year targets.
The British group said on Thursday that total revenue of 3.46 billion pounds ($4.32 billion) was up 4.9% on a like-for-like basis.
"We have seen a positive start to the year, in line with expectations, reflecting continued spending by clients in communications, customer experience, commerce, data and technology to support their businesses and brands," Chief Executive Mark Read said.
The owner of the Ogilvy, Grey and GroupM agencies has performed strongly in the last year and it has forecast growth in its key net sales metric - or revenue less pass-through costs - of 3 to 5%.
The group has said it expects its clients to spend through any downturn, using marketing to prop up sales and justify price rises. Its sales are up 26% in the last six months.