WPP profits up as ad market booms

NEW YORK, Mar 4 (BBC): Marketing group WPP saw profits in 2010 rise by almost a third to £851m, thanks in part to a rebound in US advertising in the final quarter. Like-for-like revenue growth - ignoring the effect of acquisitions - hit 8.5 per cent in the last three months of the year. For the year as a whole, the group saw like-for-like revenue growth of 5.3 per cent. The results were slightly better than expected, and follow similarly strong upturns at industry rivals Omnicom of the US and Publicis of France.