PR firm Drury enjoys 7.3% climb in pretax profit

Irish public relations agency Drury Communications increased its pretax profit last year by 7.3 per cent to €365,954.

Latest accounts for Drury Communications Ltd show that turnover rose by 1.3 per cent to €2.53 million for the year ended December 31st, 2012. This combined with reduced costs enabled the Sandymount-based PR agency to increase its operating profit by 10.6 per cent to €354,447.

Interest income of €11,507 brought its pretax profit to just under €366,000.

The company’s tax charge for the year rose to €57,668 from €49,818 in 2011. This left Drury with an after-tax surplus of €308,286 and bolstered its shareholder funds to €3.75 million.

Dividend not paid
No dividend was paid last year to its New York-based parent, Omnicom Group.

Drury increased staff numbers to 20 from 19 in 2011 while employment costs rose by €61,500 to €1.79 million.

Directors’ remuneration rose to €988,552 from €936,385, while fees to non-executive directors were unchanged at €20,000.

Commenting on the results, Drury managing director Anne Marie Curran said: "It was a good year for the company and we expect to continue to grow in 2013 and 2014."

Ms Curran said recent client wins included Inter Trade Ireland, Dublin Fashion Festival, Permanent TSB, Philanthropy Ireland and Home Retail Group, the UK parent of Homebase, the DIY chain that is currently in examinership.

The company also appointed food entrepreneur Michael Carey as a non-executive director since the year end.

Ms Curran said the loss of its account with Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, which was placed into liquidation in dramatic fashion by the Government in February, had only had a "limited impact" on the business as it had reduced in significance over time.

Drury was a long-time adviser to Anglo Irish Bank, which was merged by the State with Irish Nationwide in recent years to form IBRC.