Aegis profits slide by 86%

Aegis, the firm which runs the Carat advertising and marketing outfit and market research house Synovate, reported an 86% slump in pre-tax profits in the first half of the year to £6.6 million.

Its figures were hit by writedowns and restructuring costs but even at an underlying levels profits fell 22%.

The key figure for investors is the rate of decline in Aegis's organic revenues.

For the first half, that is down by a worst-ever 10.8%.

However, that does indicate a slight improvement after Aegis reported an equivalent drop in the first quarter of the year of 11.6%. But chief executive John Napier, the veteran industrialist who is Aegis's chairman and who took over as chief executive after firing the previous incumbent Robert Lerwill last year, cautioned on talk of a recovery.

"We are not confirming that things are bottoming out," said Napier.

"What we are saying is that the rate of decline has lessened.

"We are not predicting an upturn and we are not saying we have hit the bottom."

He said market research revenues has been particularly badly hit, trading far worse than GDP - the general rate of economic activity - than ever before.

The interim dividend has been held at 0.9p.