AGM Statement

WPP Group PLC
27 June 2005


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                               27 June 2005


                                       WPP

                      ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING TRADING UPDATE
                           FOR FIRST FIVE MONTHS OF 2005

                         REPORTED REVENUES UP OVER 20%

                     CONSTANT CURRENCY REVENUES UP OVER 21%

                       LIKE-FOR-LIKE REVENUES UP OVER 6%

              FIRST FIVE MONTHS' OPERATING MARGIN AHEAD OF BUDGET

                      CONTINUING IMPROVEMENT IN LIQUIDITY


The following statement was made by the Chairman at the Company's 33rd Annual
General Meeting held in London at noon today:

"First, a few comments on current trading over the first five months of 2005.
2005 has seen further significant growth in revenue, profit and margins,
following the strong performance in 2004.

The United States continues to grow, continuing the recovery first seen in
August 2002.   Latin America remains the fastest growing region, as it was in
2004.  Asia Pacific remains strong across the region, with China and India
leading the way.  Western Europe, although relatively more difficult, has
stabilised and the United Kingdom has improved.  Rates of growth in Europe
continue, however, to be two-paced, with parts of Germany, France, Sweden,
Denmark, Benelux and Portugal remaining difficult and Eastern Europe, Russia and
the CIS countries in particular, more buoyant.

Media investment management continues to show the strongest growth of all our
communications services sectors, along with direct, internet and interactive and
healthcare communications.  Direct, internet and interactive related activities
now account for almost 15% of the Group's revenues, which are running at the
rate of approximately $10 billion.  Brand advertising continues to grow, along
with information insight & consultancy and branding & identity.  Public
relations and public affairs also continues to show significant improvement over
last year, following a strong year in 2004.

On a reportable basis, worldwide revenues were up over 20%, reflecting strong
organic growth and the contribution from Grey Global Group ("Grey") from 7 March
2005.  The impact of currency in the first five months was minimal - constant
currency revenues were up over 21%.  On a like-for-like basis, excluding
acquisitions and currency fluctuations, revenues were up over 6%.  This reflects
a further improvement in the last two months on the trend seen in the first
quarter of this year.

Geographically, again on a constant currency basis, all regions showed
double-digit revenue growth.  In the USA, revenues were up over 22%.  In Europe,
the UK was up over 14% and Continental Europe up over 21%.  Asia Pacific, Latin
America, Africa and the Middle East were up almost 25%.

By communications services sector, advertising and media investment management
was up over 25%, information, insight & consultancy up over 16%, public
relations and public affairs up over 14% and branding and identity, healthcare
and specialist communications up almost 20%.  On a like-for-like basis the
combined revenue growth of media investment management and information, insight
& consultancy was almost 11%, twice the rate of growth seen at some competitors.
                                                    
The Group's operating companies continued to improve productivity in 2005 with
average headcount, on a like-for-like basis, up 5.1% compared with revenue
growth of over 6% and a consequent increase in revenue per head in the first
five months.  Operating margins in the first five months were ahead of budget,
which targeted a full year margin in line with the Group's objective of 14.3%,
including Grey.  The Company continues to make significant progress in winning
major new business assignments.

The Group's financial strategy continues to be focused on three objectives:
increasing operating profit by 10% - 15% per annum; increasing operating margins
by up to 1.0 margin point per annum, or more depending on the level of revenue
growth; and reducing staff cost to revenue ratios by up to 0.6 margin points per
annum, again depending on the level of revenue growth.

Currently surplus cash flow amounts to over £550 million per annum.  Average net
debt for the first five months of this year was down £130 million, or 15%, to
£740 million, compared to £870 million in 2004, at 2005 exchange rates, despite
a gross cash payment of £384 million for Grey on 7 March, 2005.  Alternatives
for the use of this cash flow are capital expenditure, acquisitions, dividends
and share buy-backs.  Capital expenditure, mainly on information technology and
property, is expected to remain equal to or less than the depreciation charge in
the long term.  In addition to the completion of the acquisition of Grey, the
Company continues to make small to medium-sized acquisitions or investments in
high growth geographical or functional areas.  In the first five months of this
year, acquisitions and increased equity stakes have been concentrated
geographically in advertising & media investment management in the United
Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia and Argentina; in information,
insight & consultancy in the United States, Hong Kong, Korea and New Zealand; in
public relations & public affairs in Denmark, Bahrain and Argentina; in
healthcare in the United States, the Netherlands and Switzerland and in direct,
internet & interactive in the United States.

Your Board also continues to focus on balancing the alternative between
increasing the dividend pay-out ratio and share buy-backs, and has continued a
rolling share repurchase programme aimed at buying in up to 2% of its shares in
the open market each year, when market conditions are appropriate.  So far this
year, this has resulted in the purchase of 11.944 million shares (of which 9.325
million were cancelled), or approximately 1% of the outstanding equity.  This,
at a total cost of £71.2 million and at an average cost of £5.96 per share.

Professionally, the parent company's objectives continue to be to encourage
greater co-ordination and co-operation between Group companies, where this will
benefit our clients and our people, and to improve our creative product.   As
both multi-national and national clients seek to expand geographically, while at
the same time seeking greater efficiencies, the Group is uniquely placed to
deliver added value to clients with its coherent spread of functional and
geographic activities.

To these ends we continue to develop our parent company talents in five

areas: in human resources, with innovative recruitment programmes, training and
career development, and incentive planning; in property, which includes radical
re-design of the space we use to improve communication as well as the
utilisation of surplus property; in procurement, to ensure we are using the
Group's considerable buying power to the benefit of our clients; in information
technology, to ensure that the rapid improvements in technology and capacity are
deployed as quickly and effectively as possible;  and finally in practice
development where cross-brand or cross-tribe approaches are being developed in a
number of product or service areas:  media investment management, healthcare,
new technologies, new markets, privatisation, internal communications,
retailing, financial services, entertainment and media, and hi-tech.

In addition, we continue to seek to improve our creative product in as broadly a
defined sense as possible, by recruiting, developing and retaining excellent
talent, acquiring outstanding creative businesses, recognising and celebrating
creative success.

But we should never forget, when reporting large numbers and significant
achievements, one of the essential truths of our business.

More than in any other business I can think of,  success in our sector -  the
creative industries -  is dependent on the ingenuity, intelligence, imagination,
enterprise and talent of individual men and women.    Advertising and marketing
services companies are not factories mechanically churning out images, ideas and
data as if they were cars or t-shirts. Everything we do is bespoke to meet a
client's precise needs. Every piece of work derives from thousands of hours of
experience and training - and that essential human spark that brings to life the
simplest project, phrase or design.

So may I finish by turning the focus on the 84,000 people who work for WPP
companies around the world who in aggregate make your company the force it is
today.

On your behalf and that of the Board, I would like to thank every one of them,
and record our admiration and appreciation of their outstanding efforts.

For further information, please contact:

Sir Martin Sorrell                       )
Paul Richardson                          )      44 (0) 20 7408 2204
Feona McEwan                             )

Fran Butera                                     (1) 212 632 2235



www.wpp.com

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