WPP's Sorrell sees 15 pct of revenue from LatAm in five years

PANAMA CITY, April 3 (Reuters) - WPP (Other OTC: WPPGF - news) , the world's largest advertising group, should be earning 15 percent of its revenue from Latin America in five years, Chief Executive Martin Sorrell said on Thursday.

"I would say you would anticipate that, in five years, Latin America would at least be 15 percent, and if we acquire aggressively, which we tend to do around in fast growth markets in digital and in data, that should even bump it up further," Sorrell told Reuters at a conference in Panama City.

Latin American countries accounted for $1.7 billion, or 8.1 percent, of WPP's $21 billion of 2013 revenue, including associate companies in which it owns 20 percent to 49 percent, Sorrell said.

Sorrell said that, despite recent protests in Venezuela and economic woes in Argentina, he was very bullish on the continent.

He added the biggest short-term issue was currency devaluations that have happened across many emerging markets, such as Brazil and Argentina.

WPP's biggest clients in Latin America include British American Tobacco Plc, Coca Cola Co and Claro, a unit of Carlos Slim's phone company America Movil ($1 = 0.6029 British pounds) (Reporting by Christine Murray. Editing by Andre Grenon)