By Greg Hazley
PR holding company Huntsworth posted a 13% rise in first-half revenue of £87M on Thursday, noting an "outlook that is generally more positive."
Profit widened to £7.2M -- a nine percent rise, pre-tax -- up from only £234K for the six-month period of 2009.
CEO Peter Chadlington said the market is "clearly more buoyant" than a year ago and added that a reorganization across Huntsworth's businesses last year has begun to pay dividends. He said the company benefited as some cuts to ad budgets went to PR.
Across its business units, financial communications unit Citigate saw revenue tick up 4.2% to 13.5M during the first half, while Grayling fell nearly five percent to £41.8M, a loss attributed to resigning business among Grayling and its Dutko Worldwide acquisition, as well as European malaise and the consolidation of business under the Grayling banner. Huntsworth Health saw a 7.1% like-for-like revenue increase to £25.1M in the first half, including its largest medical comms. win, a $3M account with Novartis, and a $1M pact with Johnson & Johnson for sales training.
Its Red division was up 5% to 6.7M on wins like Avis, alli and Adobe. Red took a hit as the U.K. cut back public sector PR spending, 10% of the unit's revenue.
Chadlington noted the "significant" global PR account of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority by Citigate and Grayland in pointing to increased cooperation among Huntsworth's four core "brands," which also include Huntsworth Health and Red.
Broken down, Citigate is 15% of Huntsworth revenue; Grayling, 48%; Huntsworth Health, 29%, and Red, 8%.
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