LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - British ad group WPP ( WPP )

on Wednesday agreed to sell its controlling stake in financial

PR agency FGS Global to minority shareholder KKR for $775

million in cash, which it will use to reduce debt.

WPP ( WPP ), the owner of agencies Ogilvy and GroupM, announced

the sale alongside first-half results that showed another drop

in organic growth, and a downgrade in its expectations for the

full year.

The sale of its around 50% stake values FGS Global at $1.7

billion on an enterprise basis, WPP ( WPP ) said, implying a multiple of

18.9 times 2023 core earnings.

WPP ( WPP ) Chief Executive Mark Read said the deal was an

"excellent outcome" three years after it merged its Finsbury,

The Glover Park Group and Hering Schuppener to create FGS

Global.

"It allows us to strengthen our balance sheet and focus

on our core create transformation offer," he said in an

interview.

For the first half of the year, revenue less pass-through

costs fell 1%, in line with analysts expectations, with large

drops in the second quarter in Britain, down 5.3%, and in China,

down 24.2%.

For the full year, WPP ( WPP ) said it expected organic growth

to be between -1% and zero, a downgrade on its previous 0% to 1%

forecast.