Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP. Photo credit: Michael Wuertenberg for the World Economic Forum

Dublin-based WPP, the world largest advertising company, is headed toward stability after reporting better-than-expected profits for 2009 today, The Times reported today. WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell declared the firm was “no longer staring into the abyss” in the aftermath of the US financial firm Lehman Brothers crisis and global economic recession.

WPP’s pre-tax profits in 2009 fell by 16 percent to £812 million; while still a fall, it was better than the expected £780 million, and revenue increased 16 percent to £8.7 billion. Still, despite the, if not exactly good news, the not so bad news, share prices fell 2.6 percent at early trading hours, making it one of the largest falls in London, but recovered to 620p by mid-morning. The company suffered a “brutal” first six months in 2009, cutting 14,000 staff members to accommodate the revenue decline, by reported the BBC.

The company’s revenue decline was seen in operations around the globe: A 6 percent fall in the UK; 10.2 percent fall in western continental Europe; an 8 percent drop North America Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and central; and eastern Europe all saw 6.8 percent fall, reported The Guardian.

The company now seems to have moved to a, “’less worse’ phase in the second half of 2009 and a stabilisation phase towards the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010,” reported The Guardian.

WPP expanded its digital operations through new media and technology through internet, PC, mobile, video content, search and social networks, making up almost 27 percent of its revenue in 2009, reported Bloomberg.

The group, whose clients include Unilever, Vodafone and HSBC, are feeling the pressure of agency fees. “Things are still tough, clients are still being very demanding, focused on costs, which tends to be more so in Western Europe and the U.S.,”  Sorrell told Dow Jones Newswires.

WWP predicts 2010 to show a flat revenue growth with added revenue expected from the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the Asian games in Guangzhou, China and the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, reported The Times.