Soccer deals score for £11 million First Artist

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Commission on that and on Andrey Arshavin's transfer to Arsenal helped the only listed football agent to decent half-year results, though chief executive Jon Smith is cautious.

"With the country now firmly in recession we remain in uncertain times," says Smith.

First Artist also owns West End promotion firm Dewynters. It bought the Manhattan equivalent, SpotCo, last year. Turnover across the group rose 38% to £38 million, with profit up 18% to £11.7 million.

Smith, who owns 8% of the stock, isn't paying himself a dividend, however. He reckons theatres and football are two industries that will thrive almost no matter how bad the economy gets - entertainment is needed in a depression more than ever, he argues. First Artist could also be faced with an $800,000 (£504,000) tax bill from SpotCo - "an unanticipated" liability.

Shares have lately rallied from year lows of 9p. Today they rose 2p to 32½p.