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Shareholders of UK-based marcoms group Creston have voted to accept the acquisition offer of fund manager DBAY Advisors. More
UK-based marcoms group Creston plc is among firms suing industry giant Omnicom for trademark infringement, following the latter's decision to launch a new agency called We Are Unlimited. More
UK-based marcoms group Creston plc is to be acquired by DBAY Advisors, a fund manager based in the Isle of Man, for 126.42 pence per share, in cash, valuing the group at around £75.8m. More
In the UK, Creston-owned qual and quant digital and sensory research specialist Marketing Sciences Unlimited has hired long-time Tesco exec Claire Hiett for the new role of Client Services Manager. More
London-based data collection business ICM Direct has boosed its data services team with three new hires - Iulian Lincu, Kar-Hoo Lee and Vlad Stanculescu - and the promotion of Kumeshnie du Plessis to Data Services Manager. More
In the UK, Winchester-based Marketing Sciences Unlimited has hired Bacardi veteran Nicola Gibbs as Research Director in its FMCG division. More
In the UK, Creston-owned agency Marketing Sciences Unlimited has promoted neuroscience man Andy Myers to its Board. More
Marcoms group Creston's Communications & Insight team has reported a 12% revenue increase in revenue to £62.9m for the year ending 31st March 2016, with like-for-like revenue up 2% to £57.5 million and an acquisition accounting for much of the rest. More
Sensory testing specialist Marketing Sciences Unlimited has promoted Becca Allen, Becky Hutchins, Becky McGee and Laura Spooner to the role of Research Manager; Sarah Bruce to Senior Research Executive; Simon Marlow to IT Manager; and Christine Trotter to HR Manager. More
Winchester-based Marketing Sciences Unlimited has opened a London office, at the HQ of parent company Creston, in Soho. More
In the UK, Marketing Sciences Unlimited has appointed Scott Harwood-Ramsay to head up its Qualitative Research team. More
Marcoms group Creston has reported an 8% increase in revenue to £40.3m for the six months ended 30th September 2015, while its Communications & Insight division saw revenue rise 14% to £30.6m and headline PBIT increase by 24% to £4.0m. More
Creston subsidiary Marketing Sciences Unlimited has launched a panel called Reflected Life, to provide continuous data on the digital footprint of the UK population. More
Pollster ICM breached the Market Research Society's (MRS) Code of Conduct by asking a leading question in a health poll conducted for BBC Wales, the Society has confirmed after a complaint by the Welsh Government. More
Marcoms group Creston has reported a 5% increase in annual revenue for its Communications & Insight businesses, to £56.2m. However, headline profits before interest fell slightly to £8.1m from £8.3m last year, due in part to the weakening Euro. More
Creston subsidiary Marketing Sciences Unlimited has promoted Dr Andy Myers to the position of Research Director, and five other members of staff to the rank of Research Manager. More
UK-based Creston Unlimited has announced a partnership with The Digital Consultancy, which helps clients analyse and understand the difference between digital consumers' expectations and their actual experience. More
UK-based companies Creston Group and Future Foundation have partnered to combine the former's market research and neuroscience services from its ICM Unlimited, Marketing Sciences Unlimited, and Walnut Unlimited companies, with the latter's consumer trends and insight offer. More
Creston-owned fieldwork business ICM Direct has appointed Michael Phillips as Data Services Director and Ali Yusuf as Solutions Development Executive, while promoting Mona Bläute to the role of Deputy Operations Director. Former Data Services Director Teresa Lynch has retired. More
In London, marcoms group Creston has acquired user experience, digital design and technology consultancy How Splendid Ltd (Splendid) for an undisclosed sum. More
Marcoms group Creston has issued an interim statement for the third quarter, reporting group revenue up just 1% year-on-year, resulting it says from a combination of client budget cuts and project delays within its UK health business. More
UK agency Marketing Sciences Unlimited has promoted Deborah Hall and Gerry Curtis to Research Director, Sadie Buckingham to Associate Director, and Becky Hutchins to Senior Research Executive. More
Marcoms holding group Creston has reported a 5% increase in half year revenue to £37.3m, and announced an international partnership with German-owned Serviceplan Group. More
Marcoms holding company Creston plc has created a new umbrella brand called Creston Unlimited, adding the suffix to the names of all its group companies including ICM and Marketing Sciences. More
Creston-owned full service agency ICM has promoted Sarah Perry to the role of Head of Development, and Gina Moore to Field Director. The firm has also hired Jenifer Curren as a Research Manager and Kate Bewick as an Associate Director. More
UK product development specialist Marketing Sciences has appointed former Tesco Head of Market Research Deborah Hall as an Associate Director in its Retail division. More
Creston's insight division - which comprises Marketing Sciences and ICM - has reported a 7% increase in annual revenue to £12.9m. The remainder of the Group by contrast saw a slight decline in revenue and profit. More
Don Elgie, the founder and former Group CEO of UK-based insight and communications group Creston, has joined social media management agency Emoderation as Non-Executive Chair. More
UK agency Marketing Sciences has acquired consumer neuroscience consultancy Walnut Group. Walnut's founder Dr Cristina de Balanzó, a former global head of neuroscience for TNS, will join Marketing Sciences to strengthen its existing offer in the field. More
UK insight and communications group Creston says it is expecting a drop in revenue to £74.8m for the year ended 31st March 2014, compared with £75.2m a year earlier. More
Creston-owned full service agency ICM has promoted Head of Qualitative Research Iain Carruthers to its Board, and given existing Director Alex Knight a wider remit as Insight Division COO and CFO. More
In the UK, Creston-owned Marketing Sciences has appointed Dr Debbie Parker as Associate Director, in charge of its Sensory Profiling lab in Westerham, Kent. She replaces Angie Reyner, who has left the company. More
UK insight and communications group Creston plc has issued an interim management statement for the last quarter of 2013, reporting an increase in headline profit (PBIT) and a levelling out of its revenue, which had dropped four percent in results for the previous six months. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston has hired former TNS CEO Pedro Ros for the newly created role of Head of Strategic Insight. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston Plc has announced the retirement of CEO and founder Don Elgie, with effect from 31st March 2014. Elgie will 'pursue a career of non-executive roles', and will be succeeded by current COO and CFO Barrie Brien, who has been with the Group since 2004. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston plc has announced that Keith Bates is to step down from the role of Head of Creston Insight, seeking 'new challenges' outside the Group. More
UK-based Marketing Sciences has hired Andy Grout, former European Head of Quantitative Research at The Leading Edge, as a board member; and has also promoted Laura Ablett to its board. The company also reports strong first-half results. More
UK-based insight and comms group Creston has reported results for the six months ending 30th September. Overall revenue fell 4.0% year-on-year to £35.7m, and headline EBITDA from £5.4m to £4.6m, but the Insight division grew revenue by ten percent to £6.1m and improved profitability. More
In the UK, Creston-owned product development specialist Marketing Sciences has appointed former Nokia researcher Richard Snoxell as Research Director in its Technology team, Jenny Guerreri as Research Manager in the Product Testing team, and Nick Rafferty as Senior Data Analyst. More
Insight and comms group Creston is expecting revenue for the three months to 30 June 2013 (Q1) to be 'slightly lower' than for the same period in 2012 - down 5% in like-for-like terms. However, the firm's Insight division expects to report an increase in revenue during the period. More
The Insight division of UK-based Creston has reported a 13% drop in revenue for the financial year ended 31 March 2013 - to £12.1m from £13.8m in the prior year period. The group says this was partly driven by a 'challenging' fourth quarter at the ICM Group. More
In the UK, fieldwork division ICM Direct has expanded its Bedford Call Centre by 20 percent, responding to 'increased client demand for fieldwork services'. More
UK-based insight group Creston plc has issued a trading update covering the year ended 31st March 2013, ahead of full year results which are due on 12th June. Group revenue was flat at £75m, but Creston said the recovery in its Insight division continued during the second half. More
UK research agency ICM has launched a new polling system called 'Rapid Response', which it says will deliver same-day results on breaking national news stories. More
UK consultancy ICM has hired Iain Carruthers, a former Interbrand Director, as Head of Qualitative Research. More
UK-based market research agency ICM is relocating to parent company Creston's new Soho headquarters, along with the group's two other London-based agencies TMW and Nelson Bostock. More
MrWeb's former Features Editor Teresa Lynch has returned to an ops role in the position of Data Services Director at ICM Research, bringing nearly three decades of operations experience to the company. More
French ad network Havas has increased its stake in UK-based insight and communications group Creston to more than 6%, just days after buying a 5% share of the business. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston has reported slow revenue growth of 1% for the second quarter of the year, impacted by a poor performance from its research agency ICM. More
The Insight division of UK-based Creston has reported a 7% drop in revenue to £13.8m for the year ended 31 March 2012, compared with £14.8m in 2011. During the period, headline pre-tax profit was almost halved from a year ago at £2.1m, down from £4.1m. More
In the UK, Creston Group company ICM has introduced a new online methodology for predicting election results, the Wisdom Index, which it is running for the Sunday Telegraph. More
UK-based qual and quant agency Marketing Sciences has promoted Jane Rudling to the position of Managing Director, replacing Keith Bates who takes on the role of Executive Chairman. More
UK-based group Creston plc has issued a trading update for the year ended 31 March 2012. Like-for-like revenue increase is only 'marginal', although the reported figure is up 11% to £75m and the group says it has completed its programme of reducing operating costs. More
Creston-owned face-to-face specialist Fieldwork UK has been integrated with sister agency ICM Direct, in a bid to further strengthen its data collection offering. More
In London, Creston Group company ICM has finalised a series of senior appointments and a major re-organization with the promotion of Operations Director Neil Sykes to the Board and the appointment of David Reeves as Production Director. More
Andrew Wiseman has been promoted to the role of acting Managing Director of ICM Group, following the recent integration of its three companies - ICM Research, ICM Direct and Fieldwork UK - and the departure of ICM Group Chairman Justin Sampson. More
In the UK, insight and communications group Creston has scrapped the role of ICM Group Chairman, held by Justin Sampson, in a bid to reduce operating costs following 'lower than expected sales'. ICM Group will now be run by its Board of Directors. More
Creston has reported 'good' third quarter revenue growth in its Insight division, following the addition of new clients in the first half of the year. However, the Board says it anticipates a decline in Q4 and will make changes to reduce operating costs accordingly. More
In the UK, ICM Research has launched a 'Crisis Management' analysis service, to help clients predict the likely public response to crises such as bad publicity; and to measure and track the effect of the crisis while it is still ongoing. More
In the UK, Creston-owned ICM Group has strengthened its data collection and field services with the promotion of Neil Sykes to Operations Director in the UK, and Rebekah Joseph as Field Director at subsidiary Fieldwork UK. More
In the UK, Creston-owned ICM Research has hired former Synovate exec Tom Bailey as Head of Analytics, while Ruth Moyer joins the Technology team and Matt Draper the Financial Services team, both as Research Directors. More
UK-based group Creston Plc has announced results for the six-month period to 30 September 2011. While the group as a whole prospered, the Insight division - which includes the firms Marketing Sciences and ICM - saw year-on-year revenue decline 3% to £7.5m. More
Insight and communications group Creston has reported year-on-year revenue growth in the quarter ending 30th June of over 12%: however like-for-like revenue growth was just 2%. Creston made positive noises about the progress of its Insight division but did not release figures. More
UK-based Creston has reported a 7.5% decline in its Insight Division revenue to £14.8m for the year ended 31 March 2011 from £16m last year, while headline profit before interest and tax dropped from £4.9m to £4.1m. However, other divisions helped the group as a whole to grow. More
In the UK, Creston-owned ICM Direct has appointed former Research Now panel specialist Pat McCarthy as Head of its online research division. More
Graham Brown and Justine Lukas, currently Associate Directors at UK research provider Opinion Leader, are leaving to join the Management Board of Creston-owned ICM Research. More
Today sees the launch of a new syndicated study of the impact of cultural diversity on UK consumer attitudes. 'Culture Watch' will be led by senior brand strategist Kate Wilson and conducted by ICM Research. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston has reported like-for-like revenue growth of more than 6% for the nine months to 31 December 2010. More
In the UK, Creston-owned ICM Research has appointed former Leapfrog Research exec Rupert Blackwell as a Board Director, responsible for creating a broader awareness of its qual research offering. More
UK-based marcoms group Creston has reported a 2% decline in first half revenue for its Insight division - which it describes as a 'resilient performance' against a backdrop of government cuts which have affected both its research agencies, ICM and Marketing Sciences. More
In the UK, Creston-owned ICM Research has launched a financial services panel, made up of participants who are IFAs, financial advisors and 'paraplanners'. More
In the UK, Creston-owned ICM Research has hired Ipsos MORI's former retail and shopper head Nathan Bartlett as a Director in its Retail team, and former TNS consultant David Perry as Project Director in its Financial team. More
In the UK, Creston-owned ICM Group has appointed BT's former research head James Turner and Optimisa's former CEO Andrew Wiseman to its Board, while announcing that MD Matt Burn and Director Gary Muncaster are about to leave the company. More
In the UK, Creston-owned ICM Direct has launched a new B2B and B2C tele-depth interviewing service, to complement its existing CATI quant work, its newvista online panel, and its online random sampling capabilities. More
In the UK, Creston-owned ICM Direct has appointed operations specialist Gareth Nicol as Managing Director, replacing Patrick Diamond who is leaving the firm after 11 years. More
UK-based marketing and communications group Creston has announced revenue down 4% to £80.5m and pre-tax profit down just 3% (at £13.8m), raising its dividend and simultaneously announcing the sale of its ad agency DLKW Group to Interpublic for £28m. More
Creston-owned ICM Group has appointed Justin Sampson as Chairman, replacing ICM founder Nick Sparrow who resigned in February after 21 years with the firm. More
Marketing Sciences has joined forces with sister agency ICM to launch a new qualitative research service called 'Inspired'. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston has reported a 4% decline in revenues for the year ended 31 March 2010, which it says is 'marginally ahead' of the Board's expectations. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston has announced respectable results: like-for-like revenue for the third quarter is in line with the same period last year and an improvement on the second quarter. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston has reported an 8% drop in first half revenues for its Insight division, partly attributable to the underperformance of market research agencies CML and MSTS, now merged into other companies. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston has posted a drop in revenue of 6% during the first quarter, compared with 5% growth during the same period last year. The firm says this is in line with management expectations. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston is selling shares in a bid to raise around £3.3m, which it will use to expand its online firm Newvista Research, as well as its mobile, digital and healthcare marketing services. More
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. More
In the UK, communications group Creston has used research conducted by its research company ICM to launch a media campaign planning service to help brands engage with consumers in the social media space. More
Marketing services group Creston has reported a 4% increase in revenues for the nine months ending December 2008. The group says trading for ICM and Marketing Sciences, the larger companies in its Insight Division, remains 'robust'. More
Marketing services group Creston has announced good interim results for the six months to September 2008, with revenue up 5% to £41.3m. The Insight Division saw revenues fall from £9.0m a year ago to £8.5m with smaller MR firms suffering, although its margins remain good. More
Marketing services group Creston Plc has informed the Stock Exchange that it has ceased its discussions with its potential buyer, a private equity firm, and is not in talks with any other buyer. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston, which owns market research agencies ICM and CML, has received a second buyout approach; this time from its biggest shareholder. More
UK-based insight and communications group Creston, which owns market research agencies ICM and CML, has confirmed it is in talks over a possible buy-out funded by an as yet unnamed private equity firm. More
Insight and communications group Creston, which owns market research agencies ICM and CML, has reported a 25% rise in profits for the year ending 31 March 2008, and says it has yet to feel the impact of the economic downturn. More
Insight and communications group Creston plc performed in line with expectations in the 2008 financial year, delivering revenue growth of c.16% year-on-year, or 8% on a like-for-like basis, according to a pre-close Trading Statement. More
UK marketing services group Creston has axed its New York office at a cost of around £600,000, forcing US CEO Steve Blamer to step down because of uncertain economic conditions. More
UK marketing services group Creston has announced a 60% growth in revenue to £69.7 million, in its preliminary financial results for the year ended 31 March. More
UK not-for-profit organisation Patient Opinion has launched a new web site for patients to share their experiences of healthcare and feed back comments and improvement ideas to the NHS. More
Britain's ICM group of companies has been acquired by Creston PLC, already the owner of MR agencies Marketing Sciences, CML and MSTS, for a maximum consideration of £37.2 million. The group includes ICM Research, ICM Direct and Fieldwork UK. More
The results of two surveys conducted since last week's London bombings present two sides of a complex issue. ICM's survey for Newsnight finds the British as divided as ever on the issue of keeping troops in Iraq, while YouGov's poll for the Daily Telegraph shows a nation determined to get on with daily life and focusing on other things than terrorism. More
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