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New business boosts Aegis
Advertising and marketing group Aegis has posted a rise in profits on the back of soaring new business billings.
The company, which counts Lycos, BMW and Bank of Scotland among its clients, said half-year pre-tax profits increased from £29.1m to £34.7m, a rise of 19%.
But the figure that stands out is for new business billings, which climbed 28% to £727m, with the European market contributing £461.5m.
Aegis's chief executive, Douglas Flynn, said the results were severely hampered by currency fluctuations, although the business was sheltered from the Easter dot.com crash because internet companies provided only 5% of revenues.
Aegis is not shying away from start-ups altogether, however, as shown by its internet incubator venture, eVerger. The business, developed with investment bank Warburg Pincus, will help Aegis to build its online marketing service.
"To an extent, it is an outsourcing venture," said Mr Flynn. "We have taken a lot of difficult developments off our plate and taken away the risk element, so we can integrate the successful parts, such as email marketing, into Aegis."
The group's market research arm produced revenues of £64.3m, boosted by the March acquisition of Asia Market Intelligence - the region's second largest custom research network.