WPP stock plunges 16% to lowest level since 1998 after fresh Q3 downgrade

WPP’s stock price slumped 16% to its lowest level in 27 years after it missed forecasts again at its latest quarterly results.

The share price ended the day at $4.02 (302.5 pence), valuing the British agency group at about $4.29 billion (£3.26 billion). 

The stock has fallen about 63% during 2025 since starting the year at $1.10 (830 pence), following a string of account losses including Coca-Cola’s media in North America and Mars’ media globally. 

Cindy Rose, the new chief executive of WPP, who took over on 1 September, admitted the performance of the UK agency group—once the biggest in the world—was “unacceptable”.

Annual revenues are now forecast to drop between 5.5% and 6%. It is the second downgrade in three months, after a shock profit warning in July when WPP predicted a decline of between 3% and 5% compared to an earlier forecast of between zero and 2% in February.

The short-term outlook looks to be tough as Joanne Wilson, chief financial officer, said at an investor presentation that Q4 could be down 7.5% as client losses take effect. Analysts at JP Morgan Cazenove estimated 2026 revenues could decline further, down as much as 3.5%.

WPP’s share slump is worse than during the pandemic when it briefly fell below $6.58 (£5) in 2020. Revenues bounced back in 2021 and 2022, but growth slowed in 2023 and went into reverse in 2024. 

The stock price peaked at about $25 (£19) in 2017 when it was valued at $31.6 billion (£24 billion), although its valuation has also dropped partly because of disposals of Kantar and FGS Global and share buybacks. 

WPP last traded below $2.95 (£3) a share in 1998. 

Hedge funds and other investors have been increasing their bets against WPP by shorting the stock price in recent weeks in expectation it would drop lower.

Six investment groups built up short positions worth more than 6% of the agency group’s stock market valuation ahead of the Q3 results, according to disclosures to the UK Financial Conduct Authority.

WPP’s declining valuation means it could be at risk of being relegated from the FTSE-100, the leading index of the 100 largest companies on the UK stock market.

The share price drop is also likely to affect current and former WPP senior executives who own stock and receive share awards as part of their compensation.