WPP expands footprint in Brazil

The most-used cheque-book in the City got another outing on Tuesday as acquisitive advertising conglomerate WPP strengthened its presence in Brazil.

The group has acquired a 70% stake in Foster Informatica, a digital agency based in So Paulo, Brazil. The agency employs 50 people and numbers Monsanto, Bayer, Metro, Danone and Goodyear among its clients.

Foster's unaudited revenues for 2011 were R$5.0m, with gross assets at the end of 2011 of R$4.1m.

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Brazil is WPP's eighth largest market in terms of revenue, and the group is keen to expand its presence in this fast growing market. At the same time it is intent on increasing the proportion of revenue it derives from digital media, so the Foster Informatica acquisition ticks two boxes for the group.

WPP's digital revenues currently total around $4.8bn, representing over 30% of the group's total revenue of $16bn, and WPP has set a target of increasing this to 35-40% over the next five years.

JH