WPP's Sorrell says he is 'optimistic'

Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP said he was "cautiously optimistic" over the group's prospects for the year.

The advertising group yesterday posted a 7 per cent boost in revenues for the first three months of the year to £2.2bn.

Sir Martin pointed to concerns about the turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East as well as the impact of the earthquake in Japan and the potential sovereign debt issues in the eurozone. But he said: "We are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for 2011 and indeed for 2012" on stronger growth in Asia Pacific and Latin America.