Art & Commerce

Seaworthy
Nobody at a recent transoceanic e-meeting/conference call asked WPP Group about the Internet. These twice-a-year sessions permit institutional investors to get underneath the company’s financial reports, and the meeting goes until the analysts run out of questions. WPP’s results for the first half were good, in line with the gains in volume, profits and
margins we’ve seen from the earlier-reporting U.S. operators. Management hopes investors will recognize the progress WPP has made toward improving profitability and view the two- or three-percentage-point gap with Omnicom and Interpublic as an opportunity, not a failing.