Revenue Down, Profits Up for Cello Group

UK-based pharmaceutical and strategic marketing group Cello has announced a 7.4% fall in revenue to £157.3m for the calendar year 2015. However, profits and earnings per share rose and the Group says it has made a good start to 2016.

Gross profit for the Group rose 7.0% to £86.7m, up 4.2% in like-for-like terms, and headline profit before tax was up 7.1% to £10.0m.

Cello is made up of two divisions: Cello Health, which includes agencies MedErgy Health Group, iS Healthcare Dynamics and Promedica; and Cello Signal, which comprises 2CV, blonde digital, Brightsource, Face, The Leith Agency, Leithal Thinking, Opticomm, Stripe Communications, tangible and TMI.

The increased profits demonstrate a strong second half, given that first half pre-tax profits were down £1.7m following investment in US operations and a provision for an ongoing tax case.

CEO Mark Scott says Cello Health is making 'pleasing progress in building its global footprint whilst maintaining a competitive margin', while Signal 'has largely completed its migration to a unified brand structure, to support its digital proposition, whilst raising its margin'. He adds: 'Above all else, the Group continues to invest in organically developing its talented base of outstanding professionals, providing a platform for future growth'.

Non-Executive Chairman Allan Rich (pictured) highlights a strong performance (licence sales and renewals) for Pulsar, Cello Signal's social media monitoring and analytics software platform, with client base growing from 88 to 191 during the year. He adds: 'While there was a headline operating loss of £0.2m, the business is not expected to make losses going forwards. A growing strategic relationship with Facebook may have a significant positive impact on the competitive advantage enjoyed by Pulsar'.

Web site: www.cellogroup.com .