There
are several notable changes this quarter in our first
table, which ranks financial PR advisers by the number
of their fully listed AIM and USM clients. Buchanan Communications,
with 123 clients, takes the lead, rising from fifth place
last time round - although currently with one fewer client
than it had three months ago. Financial Dynamics is runner-up
again, with 115 clients, and Weber Shandwick/Square Mile
(103) is again in the number three slot. Hudson Sandler,
however, continues its bumpy progress - last quarter up
from ninth to fourth place, this time round it has slumped
back to tenth, ahead of Tavistock Communications which
comes in at number eleven with 41 clients.
'Size'
table number two shows firms according to clients' pre-tax
profits, and here there are fewer surprises. The first
four places are unchanged, being occupied by Brunswick
(whose clients aggregated £10015.3m profit), Financial
Dynamics, Weber Shandwick/Square Mile and Hudson Sandler
respectively. The rest of the table shows a few minor
changes, with Binns & Co., down from seventh to ninth,
the only firm to change by more than one place. As in
the last quarter, only the clients of Citigate Dewe Rogerson
and Tavistock Communications, who retain their previous
quarter's positions of tenth and eleventh in the table,
report negative figures, although overall pre-tax profits
are, unsurprisingly, falling.
The
third table positions the firms by the average increase
in their clients' profits. The top spot is once again
held by Lansons Communications, and this quarter its figure
of 5.% is again the only positive one in the list, although
sharply down from 13.1% last time round. Hudson Sandler
has climbed from fifth to second place, swapping positions
with Binns and Co., second last quarter but fifth this
time. The number three position goes to Weber Shandwick/Square
Mile, up one place from fourth last quarter. Tavistock
Communications has fallen from third to sixth place, and
the rest of the table shows a general shuffle round of
one or two places, with Citigate Dewe Rogerson continuing
to occupy the number eleven spot - its clients showing
-41.0% change in pre-tax profits, an improvement on last
quarter's figure of -49.7%.
The
final table shows firms with the fastest growing earnings.
Lansons Communications is once again the clear 'winner'
here, as it was in October 2002, with an average increase
in its clients' earnings per share of 5% (down from 9.2%
last time). Some way behind, and unchanged in second place
comes Binns & Co., with a figure of 0.7%. Weber Shandwick/Square
Mile is up one place at number three, while Hudson Sandler
has also jumped one place to come in at number four. Apart
from the first two placings the table exhibits the now
familiar and disappointing scenario of all the figures
being negative, and indeed almost all these are lower
than last quarter's.
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to the Pinsent Masons Company Guide.