WPP shares fall on cut to revenue outlook WPP took the wooden spoon in trading this morning after cutting its guidance for revenue growth for the second time since August. The advertising group fell 2.7pc, the heaviest faller on the FTSE 100, as it lowered its expectations for like-for-like revenue growth to 2.5pc to 3pc, from 3.5pc in August. Liberum Capital said the news "will be taken disappointingly but the share price has come off to a degree on expectations things were not great." Overall, however, it was a more positive start for the blue-chip index, which advanced 24 points in early deals. The mid-cap FTSE 250 gained 76 points. Mining shares were strong after China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the nation's factory output is expected to accelerate in the final quarter of the year. Vedanta Resources put on 1.2pc, Anglo American also rose 1.2pc and Xstrata gained 1.1pc. Unilever climbed 2.9pc on the back of third-quarter sales that surpassed expectations and AstraZeneca ticked up 1.1pc despite reporting a 19pc fall in sales during the third quarter. A 12pc decline in so-called core earnings helped off-set the drop in revenue. "Overall, earnings news has lifted trade today but one can only deduce that the UK blue chips are simply range trading, in a range that has been tightening throughout the autumn," said Will Hedden, a sales trader at IG. Towards the other end of the FTSE 100, Whitbread slipped 0.2pc following a cut to "neutral" from "buy" at Citigroup, while ARM Holdings, which rose to the highest level in nearly 12 years yesterday following strong third-quarter results earlier in the week, dipped 1.9pc. On the mid-cap index, Debenhams was one of the biggest risers with an increase of 5.4pc. Investors chased the shares higher after the department store group lifted its online sales and international targets. A joint venture agreement with Zynga saw online gaming group bwin.party advance 4.6pc.