Cordiant Profits Hit By ‘Extremely Difficult’ Year
Pre-tax profits at marketing and communications company, Cordiant Communications, more than halved in 2001 following a year of restructuring and cost-cutting.
Operating profit dropped by 40.6% to £36.5 million, whilst underlying revenue was down 8.0% to £605.0 million.
No revenue growth this year Last year was described in the statement as ‘extremely difficult’ and the company is now not expecting any revenue growth this year. Nevertheless chief executive Michael Bungey says that the cost-cutting and restructuring that have been implemented leave Cordiant in a good position to benefit from a sustained upturn in advertising.
Beyond advertising Cordiant’s strategy is to move the business beyond just advertising into the higher margin area of marketing services and specialist communications. As a primarily advertising group, new disciplines have had to be established in order to build a ‘broadly based communications group’, the company said.
Shares in Cordiant were down 7p at 73p in mid-morning trading.
