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WPP, the world's second-largest advertising group, has reported a rise in first-half profits, prompted by faster growth in the US and sound economic conditions.

In a statement today the London-based company reported a 6.9 per cent rise in pre-tax profits for the six months to the end of June. They climbed to £338 million over the period – up from the £316 million reported for the same timescale last year.

Reported revenue also jumped two per cent to £2.92 billion, while like-for-like revenue climbed by 5.3 per cent.

WPP, whose clients include the Ford Motor company and Unilever, said its performance over the first half of the year "mirrored the continuing good economic conditions" in the US, the Asia Pacific region, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and central and eastern Europe.

But while stressing that results had been reinforced by a continued improvement in western Europe, the ad company acknowledged its performance in the UK remained "relatively weak".

Nonetheless WPP is upbeat about its future prospects, predicting that levels of activity for 2007 should match those for 2006, with "significant new business opportunities" presenting themselves.

The company added that 2008 should be a "bumper year", when WPP's performance is expected to be "buoyed" by the build-up to the Olympic Games in China and heavy political spending in the US, which is preparing for a presidential election.

However in a possible warning the marketing group suggested that a good performance for 2008 would be delivered "as long as the US economy holds up".

WPP has also dismissed current market volatility as a short-term problem. The company's share price dropped yesterday amid widespread turmoil prompted by a credit scare, which has seen stocks across the globe crash in recent days.

But WPP chief Martin Sorrell told the BBC's Breakfast programme that he was "in the business of building a long-term business" and said as long as his company was boosting its operations in the world's fastest growing economies he was happy.