Half-year revenues and profits fell at M+C Saatchi in the first six months of 2025.
The London-listed global communications agency saw profit before tax plummet by 36% to £10.3 million, while net revenue fell 5.1% to £103.8m.
It said a solid start to the year had been impacted by ‘Australia weakness’ and ‘macro-driven softness’ in Q2.
The London-based company has taken significant actions to reshape the Australia business – new leadership, the closure of an unprofitable full-service media business as well as restructuring – with £12m of annualised cost savings set to be made.
The group now expects that full-year revenue will be down around mid-single digits, while it is targeting full-year profit that is expected to be in line with the prior year.
The creative communications and consulting group provides data-led services across brand strategy, advertising, digital marketing, PR, growth strategy, and design, and floated over two decades ago in 2004.
Its share price peaked in 2018 at 412p but has since plummeted and now sits at 158p. This is a decline on its close yesterday, when it was 167.7p.
The company has a market cap of £193.17m and recently acquired United Arab Emirates-based sports agency Dune 23 to further its presence in the Middle East and bring its headcount in the area to more than 160.
“After a solid start to the year, we have not been immune to the market conditions of the wider industry, as clients reacted cautiously to the geo-political tensions and the unstable macro-economic environment,” said Zaid Al-Qassab, CEO of M+C Saatchi.
“This particularly impacted our Australian business, which subsequently had an adverse effect on the group’s first half results. Excluding Australia, the group would have been broadly flat which is testament to the strong underlying business fundamentals.
“We continue to see positive momentum in our growth engines, with Issues, Media, Europe and the Middle East, all continuing to grow in the first half.
“We acted quickly to accelerate transformation cost savings in order to maintain our investment in higher margin growth areas.
“Looking ahead, while we expect continued macro uncertainty in the second half, we will focus on what is in our control, aiming to deliver on the improving pipeline momentum.
“In the medium term, we continue to improve our operating model, and the strength and diversity of our portfolio, meaning we are well-positioned to deliver on our growth ambitions and to create value for shareholders.”
Startup launched by Google DeepMind researchers raises funds