WPP Scangroup Posts Fifth Consecutive Half Year Loss Amid Shareholder Tensions

Advertising giant WPP Scangroup PLC entered H1 2026 under mounting pressure from both its financials and shareholders, extending its run of first-half losses to five years after minority investors failed to remove the board in June.

• The advertising group reported a KSh 254.0Mn loss for the six months ended June, widening from KSh 208.3Mn a year earlier, as gross profit fell 33.7% to KSh 539.7Mn.
• Loss before tax widened 31.1% to KSh 227.5Mn, while loss per share increased to KSh 0.56 from KSh 0.46.
• The longer-term trend shows a business operating from a substantially smaller earnings and capital base.

The deterioration came despite deeper cost cuts. Operating and administrative expenses fell 26.2% to KSh 796.9Mn, helping narrow the operating loss by 3.1% to KSh 257.3Mn. However, net interest income dropped 69.5% to KSh 28.1Mn, while foreign exchange losses widened to KSh 33.8Mn from KSh 6.5Mn.

Cash generation also remained under pressure. Net cash used in operating activities improved 56.3% to KSh 415.5Mn from KSh 950.6Mn, but this marked a sixth consecutive first half of negative operating cash flow. Closing cash and cash equivalents fell to about KSh 503.3Mn.

The longer-term trend shows a business operating from a substantially smaller earnings and capital base. Gross profit has nearly halved from KSh 1.11Bn in H1 2021, while Scangroup has posted a first-half loss every year since 2022. Total assets have contracted from KSh 12.83Bn in June 2020 to KSh 5.81Bn, while total equity has fallen from KSh 9.86Bn to KSh 3.78Bn.

The latest numbers follow another difficult year in 2025, when Scangroup's full-year loss widened 40.8% to KSh 713.7Mn, while gross profit declined 27.9% to KSh 1.45Bn. The company incurred KSh 176Mn in restructuring-related severance costs as it sought to reduce its cost base.

Commercial pressures have included the loss of a major long-standing client. Ogilvy Africa and Airtel Africa ended their relationship in May 2025 after nearly 15 years. Scangroup did not disclose the account's financial contribution, making it impossible to quantify its impact on the subsequent decline in gross profit.

The financial deterioration has increasingly spilled into shareholder relations. In June, founder and former chief executive Bharat Thakrar and other minority investors sought to remove the board over the group's performance. The resolutions were defeated after controlling shareholder WPP, which holds 56.26%, voted against them.