Designer, media buyer and advertising agency win top award for financial credentials

BLOCKLEY, U.K. - Nov. 20, 2017 - PRLog -- Three privately-owned UK marketing agencies have won the full complement of eight "plums" for their financial credentials in this year's Private Plums* awards, but there was a slight decline in the average number of plums awarded to each company.

The top performers were design consultancy Jones Knowles Ritchie, media buyer John Ayling Holdings and advertising agency St Lukes Holdings.  It is the second occasion on which Jones Knowles Ritchie and John Ayling have achieved the top score.   Only 11 companies have won the maximum number of plums more than once over the 16 years since the awards were founded.

The Private Plums* award scheme was launched by the marketing industry's financial research company Fintellect in 2002 to recognise good financial management among privately owned UK marketing agencies irrespective of size. The results are published today in Marketing Services Financial Intelligence.

For this year's survey seventy-eight privately owned marketing businesses were identified with annual gross income in excess of £2.5 million.

There are eight criteria that have to be achieved to get top marks and agencies are awarded a "plum" for each of the criteria they satisfy.   Thus the maximum crop of plums that can be earned is eight.

This year's survey revealed:

*   Signs of a slowdown in revenue growth during the period, putting pressure on operating profit margins.  In response companies seem to have pruned their staff costs sufficiently to maintain or even improve output per head.

*   Fewer companies achieving Fintellect's benchmark for annual growth in gross income.

*   More companies achieved an operating profit per employee of £12,750, as more companies kept staff costs at or below 55% of gross income

*   The tougher economic climate had put pressure on working capital, with slightly fewer companies conserving enough working capital to cover three months' operating costs in the hypothetical absence of any revenue.

*   Borrowings increased, with more companies having net debt equivalent to one-third or more of shareholders' funds.

Of the 32 companies that have won a full crop of plums at least once during the 16 year life of the survey, 13 have been sold since.   However, relatively few companies have been able to maintain a high scoring performance over a long period. Only Ptarmigan Media has won a full crop of plums on three occasions during the 16 years and that agency could only justify seven plums this year.

"That does not means that standards have declined", observed editor Bob Willott, "but it does reflect the trend for the best performers to be snapped up by larger corporations and thereby disqualify themselves from inclusion in subsequent surveys."

* The full analysis and findings of "The Private Plums 2017" are available free to subscribers of Marketing Services Financial Intelligence at http://www.fintellect.com/msfi/

ENDS