P.M. BRIEFING : Giant WPP’s Profits Soar 86%

LONDON — British advertising giant WPP Group PLC, buoyed by acquisitions of the U.S.-based J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather agencies, said today its pretax profit for 1989 soared 86% over the previous calendar year.

WPP, which has overtaken British rival Saatchi & Saatchi Co. as the world’s biggest advertising company, reported a seventh successive year of growth. The gain was posted despite client concern about rising costs of U.S. network television advertising and declining audiences there.

The group, active in 55 countries, reported a pretax profit of $123.8 million last year against $66.5 million in 1988.

Operations in North America account for about half of WPP’s sales and operating profits, activities in Britain 20% and those in the rest of the world 30%.