Conduit Hldg Regulatory News (CRE)

11 Apr 2007 07:01

Creston PLC11 April 2007 Date: 11 April 2007 On behalf of: Creston plc ("Creston" or "the Group") Embargoed until: 0700hrs Creston plc Pre-Close Statement • expect results to be in line with current market expectations • appointment of CEO of Creston in the United States Creston plc (LSE: CRE), the diversified marketing services group, today isproviding an update on current trading prior to entering its close period. The Board is pleased to announce that the progress shown at the time of theGroup's interim results has continued and that all divisions are currentlytrading in line with expectations. There have been significant new business wins across the Group, especially inMARCOMs during the last quarter of the year. These wins include NissanPan-Europe, T-Mobile Digital, Financial Times, eBay, Campbells, Lexus, JSainsbury, Servier and the Government's Central Office of Information (COI).The majority of the financial upside of these wins will impact in the nextfinancial year. Strong progress has been made in building the Group's reputation and presence inthe digital space. The Board is particularly pleased with the performance ofthe newly formed on-line research offering Newvista, which has won significantnew business such as Orange, Norwich Union, Tesco and Vodafone and showsconsiderable growth opportunity. To date, Creston has invested over £500k inthe development of its on-line research offering. The continued success of ourdigital capability in the rest of the Group, especially digitaltmw, has resultedin a number of wins, some of which are solely digital projects, as well asintegrated on and off-line campaigns. The Board currently estimates that, intotal, on-line and digital revenue is growing as a percentage of the Group'srevenue and is now generating annualised revenues of approximately £10.5million. The recently announced alliance with Latitude, the UK's leading search enginemarketing agency, also re-enforces Creston's ability to provide an integrateddigital service to its clients through its operating companies. The Board continues to focus on maintaining the Group's diversified client baseby ensuring no division is reliant on one major client or sector going forward.The Group's strategy is to build a diversified international marketing servicesgroup through a combination of organic growth and selective acquisitions. To this end, the Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Steve Blamer asCEO of Creston in the United States (Creston plc US Holdings Inc). Thisappointment marks Creston's entrance into the US market. Mr Blamer was mostrecently CEO and President of Foote Cone & Belding Worldwide ("FCB"), one of theworld's oldest agency brands. Prior to leading FCB, Mr Blamer served as CEO ofGrey Worldwide North America, a role he took on after 17 years of success withinthe Grey network. Creston's strategy will be to build a US network ofspecialisations complementary to that of the UK and, as in the UK, to offerclients a full suite of solutions to meet both existing and future marketingneeds. The Board has been very impressed with the contribution that the last threeacquisitions have brought to the Group in terms of financial performance,synergy and inter-company joint initiatives, such as Newvista. The addition of ICM, TMW and PAN to the Group has fulfilled the ambition ofproviding clients with the prospect of a diversified yet integrated group.Synergy revenues have grown accordingly. We have always believed that synergyis an output of having the appropriate market relevant strategy and thisperspective is proving its worth to both clients and to Creston with over £1m ofannualised revenue generated. We expect both the UK and US marketing services sectors to show growth over theshort to mid-term. Macro economic dimensions such as global over-capacity andslowing consumer driven consumption will lead to brand owners sustaining orincreasing overall marketing investment in order to stimulate demand. We expectto see continued growth in both digital and in all divisions as clients focus oncommercial performance and sales performance, as well as return on investment. The Board is confident about the Group's prospects for the year ahead and willannounce the final results for the year ended 30 March 2007 on Tuesday 12 June2007. -Ends- Enquiries: Creston plc www.creston.com Don Elgie, Chief Executive 020 7930 9757 Barrie Brien, COO/CFO Redleaf Communications 020 7822 0200 Emma Kane/Sanna Lehtinen/Susan Quigley NOTES TO EDITORS: • Publication quality photographs are available through Redleafon the numbers shown above. About Creston plc • Since its inception in 2001, Creston has brought 10 leading brandsunder one roof in the UK, offering a host of blue-chip clients a range ofservices spanning advertising, public relations, digital marketing, marketresearch, direct marketing and customer relationship marketing (CRM), among manyothers. • The Board's aim is to identify synergistic benefits between currentlyindependent marketing services companies offering premium services such asmarket research, direct marketing, advertising, public relations, research anddigital; and to build a diversified Group that offers clients solutions to bothexisting and future marketing needs. • Creston's share price is quoted on the London Stock Exchange under thesymbol CRE and is published in the Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, TheTimes and the London Evening Standard. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange