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Advertising group WPP has reported higher third-quarter revenues and stressed that it has yet to be hit by the ongoing global credit crunch.

In a statement today the company revealed a 4.9 per cent rise in third-quarter revenues, which climbed to £1.48 billion in the three months to September 30th.

Revenues in constant currencies were up 8.1 per cent, with WPP blaming the strength of the pound against the US dollar as the main factor in reducing the group's revenue growth.

On a like-for-like basis, excluding the impact of acquisitions and currency fluctuations, revenue growth was almost five per cent.

But while the strength of the pound has hit WPP's performance, the company stressed that it was unlikely to see any possible impact from the global credit squeeze until next year.

"Despite concerns about the impact of the recent liquidity crisis on levels of client spending, there has, as yet, been little or any effect on spending levels across the board, both functionally and geographically," the world's second-largest advertising and marketing services company said.

Meanwhile the company is confident about the future prospects for the advertising industry.

WPP said it was of the opinion that 2008 would be a "good year" for the sector, reflecting the "positive combined impact" of key events such as the US presidential election, the Beijing Olympics and, to a lesser extent, the European football championships.

The advertising giant said that it won net new business billings totalling £703 million over the third quarter and continues to benefit from consolidation trends within the industry, securing "several large assignments" from existing and new clients.

WPP said that in the first nine months of the year it also improved its headline operating margin by 0.5 points and continues to focus on key strategic objectives, such as improving operating profits by ten to 15 per cent per annum.