WPP’s Read says no timetable on reviewing the group

LONDON (Reuters) – Mark Read, WPP’s (WPP.L) joint chief operating officer, said he would look at new ways to restructure the group but would not put a timetable on how long that would take and did not think a full break up made sense.

Read was appointed to run WPP after founder Martin Sorrell stepped down two weeks ago, sparking speculation that a new CEO could sell assets or break up a group which is battling widespread structural change.

“It doesn’t make sense to break the group up, but that doesn’t rule out that we might look at specific ideas,” he told Reuters in an interview.

He said WPP Chairman Roberto Quarta had asked Read and his joint COO Andrew Scott to look at the group’s strategy.

“[Chairman] Roberto has asked Andrew and I to look at the strategy and come back as quickly as we can to the board with recommendations.”