Advertising agency M&C Saatchi revealed a 13 per cent increase in half year pre-tax profit, driven by a string of new contract wins.

M&C Saatchi, whose clients include O2, Intercontinental Hotels, Twitter and Virgin Holidays, said profit rose to £8.7m for the six months to end of June 2012 while revenue increased 15% to £82.8m.

Operating profit rose to £8.6m from £7.6m and earnings per share rose to 7.95p from 7.15p.

Progress was made across all regions with UK revenues up 16%, after a strong performance from CRM and mobile services. Europe like-for-like (LFL) revenues rose by a quarter despite macro-economic challenges.

In Asia and Australasia LFL revenues climbed 12% while in the Middle East and Africa they soared 146% to £2.8m as it positions itself for a fast growing African market. Revenues in the Americas gained 12% with its New York agency set for opening in the final quarter.

"Looking ahead, we are confident that we will continue to make progress in 2012 and beyond. The strategy is working," the group said in company statement.

M&C Saatchi has offered an increased dividend payment of 1.10p from 1p before.



Formal menswear specialist Moss Brothers said pre-tax profit rose a touch after solid trading across both hire and retail in the first six months of the year.

The retailer lifted like-for-like (LFL) sales by 5.7%, a slower rate than the first half, in what it described as a "positive performance" in line with company expectations.

Pre-tax profit rose to £2.21m in the 26-week period to end of July from £2.15m while total revenue increased to £52.7m from £51.8m before.

The suit hire firm, which has managed to turn around annual losses recorded in 2011, noted the Olympics' negative impact on LFL sales during the period. It said many wedding plans were moved forward from the first half to the second half because of the Games.

"With the continued positive trading performance to date, the Board, although mindful of the fragile external trading environment, anticipates that the outturn for the full year will be in line with management's expectations," it said in a company statement.

Diluted earnings per share for period fell sharply to 1.54p from 7.96p in the same period a year earlier. Gross margin recovered against last year as raw material prices eased and through direct sourcing.

Moss Bross Chief Executive Brian Brick said: "Despite challenging economic conditions, the group's trading performance continues positively, in line with the board's expectations and the business is well placed to make further progress."

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