BUCHANAN IS THE NEW JOINT LEADER IN CLIENT NUMBER

There has been important development's in the financial public relations tables this quarter, with large-scale changes in positions.

Buchanan Communications has joined long time champion of the most client numbers table, Financial Dynamics, in top place. It had an impressive leap of 24 and now boasts 122 clients on its books. This remarkable rise is not only due to the organic growth of the company.

Its concentration on IPO's (of which it holds around 20-25 per cent of the market) has paid dividends, with the recent surge in new issues to the stock exchange. The new economy slant of its client base has also allowed it to take full advantage of the early year boom in the technology sector. Its books now include Internet companies ADVFN.com, e-district.net and On-line Travel Corporation.

Elsewhere in the table, the period of consolidation at Citigate Dewe Rogerson seems to be complete since its merger last year. After a long period of decline in its client numbers, it has bounced back with an impressive 27 client gain this quarter. It now advises Brainspark and Knowledge Management Sofware. The only casualty of the tables was Tavistock, which declined to 39 clients this term, losing the likes of Corus Group.

Despite its big gain in numbers, Buchanan turned in only a £48m increase in profits and was dwarfed by the biggest rise in the table, College Hill. For the last six months it had been languishing in last place, but its 80 clients have now turned round previously negative figures to handsome positive numbers, catapulting it to fourth place. The change of fortunes of the oil & gas companies on its books is one reason for the change. Latest annual reports suggest Fortune Oil (from -£39.9m to £9.1m), Premier Oil (from -£128m to -£16.7m) and SOCO International (-£0.6m to £8.3m) have all helped the cause.

The turn round in College Hill's client profit has also affected its standing in the two growth tables. Its now first in client pre-tax growth, from fifth, and second in EPS growth, from fourth. Making way for College Hill was Citigate, which had triumphed in both leagues last quarter. Its clients slumped 19.7 per cent in the profit growth table, delivering it to mid-table obscurity.

The PR tables on this evidence seem to be the most exciting of all the leagues, lets see if they can keep this up....