International marketing services group St Ives PLC has announced its half-year results, revealing financial success and key changes to its business model.
Highlights from the period, which ended January 30 2015, include a revised corporate structure, further international expansion and new company acquisitions.
The firm saw revenues rise to £175 million over H2 2014, up 6% year on year.
St Ives also saw a boost in pre-tax profit to £14.9 million, an increase of 15% from £12.9 million.
The results show the acquisition of digital marketing agency Realise and healthcare communications agency Hive, in March and May 2014 respectively, setting the company up for a successful second half of the year.
Productive six months
With offices in the UK, North America, China and Singapore, St Ives works with a large number of international consumer-facing brands across a range of sectors including retail, healthcare. financial services, media, technology, automotive and charity.
Following a restructure of the company, St Ives now operates as three segments; Strategic Marketing, Marketing Activation and Books.
“This has been a very productive six months for St Ives,” said Matt Armitage, chief executive at St Ives PLC.
“We have generated healthy revenue growth through increased collaboration between our businesses, further investment in new service offerings and, of course, through the continued entrepreneurial drive of our individual management teams.”
Growth opportunities
Armitage added that St Ives remains positive despite company debt rising from £42.7 million to £43.0 million, claiming the figure remains at a “very manageable” level.
A recent agreement with Penguin Random House, the UK’s largest trade publisher, has also contributed to growth for St Ives and helped secure approximately 80% workload for next 3-6 years in the company’s Books segment.