WPP shares hit their highest level in nearly a year as its sales slowdown eased in a boost to its turnaround efforts.

The troubled advertising giant hailed a less dramatic fall in sales – including fees paid to external suppliers – over the second quarter.

Revenue fell 2.8 per cent to £2.5billion as it fared better with winning new clients, compared to the first three months of the year when sales fell by almost 7 per cent.

Shares in WPP surged by a quarter on Thursday morning after sales were better than expected, in a shot in the arm for boss Cindy Rose.

The FTSE 250 firm's stock has fallen by 60 per cent over the past five years as concerns grew over its profit warnings and cuts to advertising budgets in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

It has even been booted out of the illustrious FTSE 100, despite being one of the world's biggest advertising empires.

But there are hopes better fortunes are ahead after the group pointed to some well-known new client wins, including beauty giant Estée Lauder and carmaker Jaguar Land Rover.

WPP also revealed the extent of job cuts, with 1,267 employees – around 1.3 per cent of its headcount – leaving over the first six months of the year.

This helped the company trim staff costs by 5.9 per cent to £3.47billion for the first half of 2026, compared to last year.

Rose – who took over in September last year and has pledged to save £500million in costs by 2028 – said that the most recent quarter showed ‘a further sequential improvement’ and was an example of ‘the momentum we are building across the country.’

But she said ‘legacy account losses’ continued to drag down the group’s performance.

She added: ‘While the turnaround of our financial performance will take time to fully flow through, our strong new business wins and improved client retention, as well as progress on cost savings and portfolio actions, demonstrate that we are building a simpler, more competitive and higher-performing WPP.’

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: ‘When you are as beaten up as WPP is, it doesn’t take much more than some glimmers of hope to shift the market narrative.

‘Revenue is still under pressure and there is continuing churn in accounts but profit came in materially ahead of expectations as CEO Cindy Rose’s cost cutting measures take effect. 

‘It’s early days but investors are welcoming signs of some progress on this front as the company continues to economise and progress asset disposals.’