On a reported basis, revenue in the insight division was up 9.9% to £581.9m. Group revenues, including advertising, media investment management, PR and branding, grew 12% to £2.25bn, or 7.5% on a like-for-like basis, which excludes the impact of currency fluctuations and acquisitions.

WPP said all regions saw an improvement, most significantly the UK and the United States – the latter behaving “more like an emerging market than a mature one”.

Nine-month revenue for the group was £6.69bn, up 6.3%. Consumer insight revenue grew 5.5% in the period to £1.74bn. WPP research agencies include Kantar, TNS-RI, Millward Brown and Lightspeed Research.

The group capped news of its financial performance with the announcement of a $5m investment in a New York-based company Buddy Media, which has developed a platform to help companies manage their brand presence on Facebook.

WPP said it would form a strategic partnership with Buddy Media to integrate the Facebook management platform into its existing suite of technology products and services with the aim of bringing “improved measurement and scale to brands” who are looking to engage with users of the social networking site.