MARKETING and communications giant WPP today said it had seen its first monthly revenue growth in more than a year during the first quarter thanks to a marked turnaround in the US market.

WPP revealed that revenues rose 1% in March - the first year-on-year growth since December 2008 - and said profits and operating margins had been "well above" budget and against last year.

The group raised its revenue targets for the full year to 2% on a like-for-like basis after previously guiding for turnover to be flat.

Shares in WPP, which owns famous names such as Ogilvy & Mather and J Walter Thompson, lifted by more than 2% as investors cheered further signs of a revival in the embattled advertising and communications industry.

WPP reported revenues of £2.1 billion for the first quarter, flat against a year earlier on an underlying and like-for-like basis.

The group said it had seen a "change in client attitudes" since the start of 2010, with companies now focused on how to achieve profits rather than just on cutting jobs, according to WPP.

American markets have seen the biggest revival, said WPP, adding that economic and fiscal stimulus efforts seem to have had the "most marked effect" in the US.