Marketing Services Buys Drive Growth at St Ives

UK group St. Ives Plc has reported a 3% annual increase in revenue to £327.6m, providing what it calls 'clear evidence' of the success its strategy to move into marketing services through a major M&A push.

Founded in 1964, St Ives' initial focus on print has since been expanded to cover display and marketing services, including consumer insights and consultancy services. In 2011, the group acquired retail and consumer consultancy Pragma and it has since bought MR agency Incite, and digital marketing agency Realise. These firms are now part of the group's Marketing Services division, which for the prior financial year reported a 12% rise in revenue from £65.9m to £98.1m, and which now accounts for 46% of the group's underlying profit. Marketing Services' own underlying operating profit rose from £7.6m to £11.6m during the period.

For the twelve months ended 1st August 2014, the group saw overall underlying profit before tax rise 17% to £29.4m (2013: £25.2m).

Group CEO Matt Armitage (pictured) commented: 'We are very pleased to report another strong set of results, in which our Marketing Services segment delivered more than three times the underlying operating profit achieved by the entire St Ives Group in 2009.'

According to Armitage, St Ives is currently examining possible further acquisitions for the division, specifically in the areas of data, digital, consultancy services and field marketing, and also in the media analytics and content management sectors.

Web site: www.st-ives.co.uk .