Photon sees growth in UK and Europe
Photon Group, the marketing services group which owns Naked Communications, has reported a 1% fall in net profit after tax to $21.4m (£10.7m) in the year to 30 June, with its UK and European operations showing growth.
The group says that its European-based PR firms, Hotwire and Frank PR, are showing strong growth, along with UK-based field marketing specialists, REL and Retail Insights.
Net revenue during the period in the UK and Europe rose 9% to $117.2m (£58.7m).
Photon executive chairman Tim Hughes says the first two months of the financial year saw some recovery in areas such as event management and corporate communications in both the UK and Australia.
The slight fall in reported net profit after tax has been attributed to $3.7m (£1.85m) redundancy costs and a $4.2m (£2.1m) non-cash impairment charge associated with an investment in Dark Blue Sea, an internet domains broker.
Photon’s underlying net profit was up 30% to $28.2m (£14.1m). The Australian-based group has launched a $114.6m (£57.4m) capital raising initiative to help reduce debt.
Hughes says: “We made a number of acquisitions in Australia, the UK and US to build a robust, diversified portfolio.
“With an improving economic outlook globally and our exposure to the fastest growing market sectors, we are cautiously optimistic that 2010 will be another record year in terms of revenue and earnings.”
