Advertising giant WPP has said that it is on track for its first quarter of the year, reporting an 8.3% revenue growth and profits.

The London-based company said that, during the first three months of 2015, revenue was £2.78bn and like-for-like net sales had grown by 2.5%, driven by a strong performance in North America.

The company, led by chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell, described its first quarter profits and margin as “well above target.”

The UK was the group’s second-strongest market, reporting like-for-like net sales growth of 3.6%, better than 2.1% in North America and only 0.3% in western continental Europe.

The company said that new business brought in exactly $1bn in the first quarter, compared to $1.28bn in the first quarter last year.

Sorrell warned of political instability in the Middle East and North Africa, a slowdown of the Russian Economy and a fragile economy in the Eurozone as his biggest concerns for clients.

Yesterday, rival groups Publicis and Omnicom posted their first quarter results. Publicis posted a positive 32% revenue growth and Omnicom posted a 0.9% fall in revenue.