Sir Martin Sorrell attacks Donald Trump as WPP takes a tumble

Sir Martin Sorrell had a swipe at Donald Trump on Wednesday, becoming the latest senior business person to question the US President.

And Sorrell saw shares in his advertising giant WPP tumble 11% as the market took fright at his gloomy forecasts for the year.

Dozens of US chief executives distanced themselves from Trump following his heavily criticised remarks about the violent neo-Nazi protests in Charlottesville. A string of business leaders quit his advisory council in response.

Sorrell said Trump is struggling to keep his promises.

He told investors: “Whilst Trumponomics may well have resulted in an increase in the United States GDP growth rate… the limitations of the new administration seem to be jeopardising the anti-regulatory, infrastructure and tax reduction programme that was promised.”

A “rise of populism” in the US and the UK and “bumpy growth” in Brazil, Russia and China are also a threat.

WPP’s half-year results spooked traders, with revenue figures flattered only by the weakness of the pound. On a constant currency basis, they fell 4.7% to £26.9 billion. Profit was up 1.8% to £793 million.

Sorrell warned it was “a tough first half” and a “difficult start to the year” but refused to blame it on a cyber hack suffered in June.

Sorrell said clients are buffeted by the rise of digital rivals, activist investors and the fashion for thrifty “zero-based” budgets, all of which encourage them to cut costs.

That means big clients such as Procter & Gamble and Nestlé have hacked back what they spend on marketing.

Before today, WPP was predicting sales growth of 2% this year. Sorrell now says growth will be zero, or 1% at best. That would be WPP’s worst year for growth since the recession of 2009.

The shares fell 167p to 1423p, despite a 16% rise in the dividend payment to 22.7p.

“Following the pressure on client spending in the second quarter, particularly in the fast-moving consumer goodsor packaged-goods sector, the full-year revised forecast has been revised down further, with both like-for-like revenue and net sales forecast to be between zero and 1% growth,” the company said.

Steve Clayton of Hargreaves Lansdown said: “Life is getting tougher in the media world, with WPP experiencing a slowdown in trading in June and July, spread across much of the world and in many different media sectors.”

Sorrell has faced anger over his £70 million pay, an amount he insists he is worth, having built up WPP almost from scratch.