13th Nov 2013 07:00
Huntsworth plc
("Huntsworth" or "the Group")
Huntsworth today publishes its Interim Management Statement covering the period from 1st July 2013 to date.
Huntsworth, the public relations and healthcare communications group, remains on track to meet management expectations for 2013 amid initial signs of a pick-up in some areas of the public relations market.
Sally Withey, Group Chief Operating Officer commented: "In the marketing services sector, public relations is normally the last area to go into a recessionary period and is also usually the last out. In the past, financial public relations has been the first area to show signs of recovery, followed by the specialist practice areas such as healthcare with the consumer and corporate sectors being the last to recover. This pattern is reflected in our Q3 results which showed an overall revenue decline of 0.9%, but with some early signs of recovery in the financial and specialist divisions.
Citigate our financial public relations division, (13% of the Group), increased revenues by 7.7%; Huntsworth Health (33% of the Group) was up 3.3%; the rate of revenue decline in Grayling (45% of Group) has slowed to 5.4% and Red (8% of Group) saw a decline of 3.9%.
In recent years, Huntsworth's revenue growth has been severely impacted by the unprecedented recession in Europe and the UK which together account for around 60% of Group revenues. However, net debt has now fallen to under £40m and the Group continues to invest in growing PR revenues in USA, Asia Pacific and the Middle East - all of which provide growth opportunities which will offset Huntsworth's dependence on the economic recovery in Europe.
In October, the Group received £36.5 equity investment from Blue Focus, one of the leading PR and communication companies in China. The strategic alliance has started well with one major new shared annual contract and several smaller project initiatives. We are now working closely with UK Trade and Investment in the British Embassy and we expect this to generate more business both inside and outside China during 2014."
Contacts:
Huntsworth plc +44 (0)20 7224 8778
Peter Chadlington, Chief Executive
Sally Withey, Chief Operating Officer and Finance Director
Citigate Dewe Rogerson +44 (0)20 7638 9571
Simon Rigby
Georgia Colkin
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