Creston Announces Growth and Restructure

Creston, the marcoms group which owns market research firms ICM and Marketing Sciences, has reported a revenue increase of 4% to £83.8m for the year ended 31 March - 'though figures for its Insight Division were less buoyant. The firm has also appointed a new operational Executive Board.

For the period, group headline pre-tax profit rose to £14.2m from £13.5m, while net new business climbed to £15m from £9m.

However, revenue for the Insight division was down 8% to £28.2m, and the division contributed 20% of group revenue, a decline from 22% the previous year. Headline profit before tax for the division was £4.5m, down from £5.3m.

The group will not pay a final dividend, which is says is partly because of its need to invest in digital solutions.

As well as market research, Creston provides digital marketing, direct marketing, public relations and advertising services.

As part of a restructure, the 11 Creston agencies have been grouped into three divisions: Insight, Communications and Health, which it says will better position it to respond quickly to market demands.

Each division will have its own operating Board and divisional head who will sit on the new Executive Board with Barrie Brien, Group CFO. The Executive Board is chaired by Group CEO Don Elgie, whose brief is to drive synergy, best practice and organic growth.

ICM Chairman Nick Sparrow will head the Insight Division, which brings together all Creston's consumer insight and market research businesses: ICM, Marketing Sciences, CML Research and newvista research.

Underpinning the new structure is a commitment to delivering digital programmes and campaigns across all aspects of the group's client offering. For the financial year, 28% of business across Creston was digital, and in March, the group launched a social media campaign planning service to help brands engage more effectively with consumers in the social media space.

Elgie comments: 'Creston's new structure reflects the needs of our clients to exploit the most innovative marketing insights and communications services available. We are perfectly positioned to deliver this - driving growth both for our clients and for Creston.'

The company's annual dividend for fiscal 2009 amounts to 0.73 pence per share, compared with 2.77 pence per share last year.

Web site: www.creston.com .