London-based communications services group WPP has announced a 13 per cent rise in profits to £30.1 billion.
WPP, which has holdings such as media planning company Mindshare, public relations firm Hill and Knowlton and research group Kantar, reported like-for-like revenue up by 5.4 per cent in 2006.
"The group's financial performance in the year more than mirrored the continuing steady strength in economic conditions across the globe, with even the weakest geographical region, western Europe, picking up in the second half," a statement from the group read.
However the geographical areas with the fastest growth were named as Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and central and eastern Europe.
Events such as the Winter Olympics in Turin, the Fifa World Cup in Germany and the mid-term elections in the US had a "positive impact" upon profits in 2006, the company reported.
Looking to the future, the group believes 2007 will "benefit from the build-up to the US presidential elections" while 2008 will be a "very strong one" thanks to the Beijing Olympics, heavy US political advertising and the European football championships.
WPP consists of around 100 different companies, each employing from 15,174 to 17 people. Operating in 106 countries, WPP has a total of 98,000 members of staff.
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