The veteran Soho Mad Men who run M&C Saatchi were today celebrating another year of record revenues as the advertising group defied the tough economic climate by expanding beyond traditional ads into new areas such as mobile, customer-loyalty programmes and sports marketing.
The Olympics helped drive revenues up 13% to £75.4 million at the UK arm last year, with operating profits surging 17%, despite the market being flat at best for TV and press. Chief executive David Kershaw credited new account wins including National Trust, Peroni, InterContinental Hotels and Virgin Holidays as well as existing clients such as NatWest and Transport for London.
It won more “integrated” business, by offering a range of marketing services, not just advertising.
M&C, which operates 27 offices around the world, saw group turnover rise 11% to £169.5 million. Profits before exceptional items rose by a tenth to £17.2 million but fell to £9.9 million on a pre-tax basis because of an accounting change. The dividend jumped 10% to 4.95p a share, which means another payday for Kershaw and fellow directors Maurice Saatchi, Jeremy Sinclair and Bill Muirhead, who own around 7% each.
They collected nearly £2 million worth of shares each last month, after a bonus scheme paid out.
The quartet, who founded M&C in 1995, are all between their late fifties and late sixties but have no intention of quitting.
“We still enjoy it and it still seems to be working,” said Kershaw. “The company is only 17 years old — it’s just in adolescence.”
