Chime Communications said today that 2012 PR revenue dipped 2% but operating income jumped 35% to £157.5M on the strength of its marketing and advertising work for the London Olympics.

Profit soared 64% to £25.7M, excluding earn-outs and prior year results from its offloaded Bell Pottinger PR business. The company, which previously counted earn-out payments as a capital item rather than a charge against earnings, said new rules required it to take an £11.5M charge for earn-outs in 2012. That one-time reality, along with the farming out of an £11.9M overseas PR contract set to end in April, cut operating profit down to just £4.9M, a 74% decline over the prior year.

Chime, which sold BP to the firm's management for £19.6M in 2012, said PR revenue for the year dipped two percent to £18.8M. Profit ticked up to £1.9M. Recent wins include SABMiller's Pilsner Urquell, Serco, Huawei and British Land.

CEO Christopher Satterthwaite called it a "year of transition" for Chime as it invested in sports, entertainment and digital, as well as developing markets, and continue to divest Bell Pottinger. He said "repositioning" the Good Relations PR division is well under way and he expects the second half to be better than the first.