WPP's Martin Sorrell is 'raging bull' on Chinese growth

Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP, has expressed optimism about China's growth, despite fears over its economic health.

"I remain a raging bull in relation to China," he told the BBC's Today programme.

WPP saw a 44.5% rise in preliminary pre-tax profit to £710m for the first half. Revenues rose 6.8% to £5.84bn.

He added that Chinese economic growth was fundamental to the company's future.

"China has been the biggest driver of the world economy," he said.

Despite the recent reports of slowing economic growth in the world's second-largest economy, Sir Martin pointed out how far China had come.

"They ain't done too bad with a five-year planned economy since 1985," he said, adding that China's prospects needed to be seen in the light of "30 years of growth and expansion and the hundreds of millions of people that have been taken out of poverty and moved into a lower-middle or middle class".

While China is WPP's third-biggest market, the US is the firm's biggest.

Strong growth in North America and the UK helped to boost the company's bottom line.

Looking forward, Sir Martin said he expected WPP to meet sales targets for the full year.

The world's biggest advertising group owns a host of agencies around the world, including J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather, and employs some 179,000 people in 111 countries.