2.54% JAMES WARRINGTON @j_a_warrington WPP YESTERDAY said it had entered into an agreement with Goldman Sachs to buy back up to £300m in shares following its $4bn (£3bn) sale of market research firm Kantar.

Shares in the advertising giant closed up more than 2.5 per cent to 985.2p following the announcement.

WPP said the share buyback programme will continue until 18 March 2020.

The ad firm said the purpose of the arrangement was to reduce the company's share capital. It represents roughly a quarter of the total share buyback amount approved by shareholders.

The buyback comes a week after WPP completed the sale of a majority stake in Kantar to Bain Capital.

The company said it expects to retain roughly £1.4bn from the proceeds, while around £950m will be paid out to shareholders.

Chief executive Mark Read last week said the sale would help to strengthen the holding group's balance sheet. "It is a major step in simplifying and focusing WPP, and we intend to return around eight per cent of our share capital to shareholders," he said.

(c) 2019 City A.M., source Newspaper