By Ruth Bender
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
BARCELONA (Dow Jones)
"The second quarter is the one where we had the sharpest drop this year, so it seems logical to think this is the quarter when we will see positive year on year comparisons," Martin Sorrell said, speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecoms Conference in Barcelona.
"Things have not changed markedly since September... they are less worse but it's nothing to get excited about yet," the CEO said, adding that activities in the U.S. have improved and have started to get better in Europe too.
According to Sorrell, WPP's clients remain cautious and there's very intense price competition in media buying and planning.
He reiterated that WPP, the world's largest marketing company by revenue, expects organic revenue to be unchanged next year.
Sorrell also predicts the advertising market will experience some consolidation in the future. "Havas and Aegis will merge," he said. There has been ongoing market speculation that French Havas' (HAV.FR) controlling shareholder, Vincent Bollore, who also owns a nearly 30% stake in U.K.-based rival Aegis Group PLC (AGS.LN), could merge the two groups.
Sorrell said the consolidation may also happen in Japan, which has suffered a lot during the downturn, and in traditional media.
"As for WPP, we still have an acquisition appetite," he added, noting that for now such buys will remain rather small and in the areas of new media, consumer insight and emerging markets.
Mobile advertising is a sector with great future growth potential even though it remains a small market, Sorrell added.
-By Ruth Bender, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 40 17 17 54; ruth.bender@dowjones.com