22nd Mar 2018 11:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - Advertising agency M&C Saatchi PLC hiked its dividend 15% Thursday after 2017 profit and revenue grew strongly driven by growth across most of its regions despite weakness in the Americas.
In 2017, pretax profit expanded 16% to GBP27.7 million from GBP23.7 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 12% to GBP251.5 million from GBP225.4 million the year before.
Revenue growth was driven by significant growth in Europe, the Middle East & Africa and Asia & Australia regions offset by slower performance in the UK and Americas.
Europe saw revenue rise 26% to GBP33.5 million from GBP26.7 million the year before, pretax profit rose 31% to GBP5.1 million from GBP3.9 million. In the Middle East & Africa region, revenue grew 26% to GBP14.7 million from GBP11.7 million and pretax profit 45% to GBP1.6 million from GBP1.1 million. Asia & Australia saw revenue advance 23% to GBP64.7 million from GBP52.5 million with pretax profit expanding 35% to GBP7.8 million from GBP5.8 million.
The UK, however, saw revenue grow at a slower pace of 6% to GBP94.0 million from GBP88.5 million, with pretax profit still expanding to GBP10.5 million from GBP6.5 million.
In contrast, the Americas saw revenue fall 3% to GBP44.6 million from GBP46.0 million with pretax profit also shrinking to GBP2.7 million from GBP6.4 million. Saatchi emphasised its Americas business was profitable in the first quarter of 2018.
Saatchi hiked its final dividend per share 15% to 7.4 pence, up from 6.44p. For the full year, the dividend also grew 15% to 9.53 pence from 8.29p the year before.
"2017 was another record year for M&C Saatchi in terms of both revenue and earnings," Saatchi Chief Executive Officer David Kershaw said. "Our established strategy of winning new business and starting new businesses continues to deliver."
"This year has begun well, and we are confident that we will continue to make good progress in 2018 and beyond," Kershaw added.
Shares in Saatchi were 3.2% higher at 415.00 pence on Thursday.
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