It's spend, spend, spend at Sherry FitzGerald where the agency can now count itself among the big players in the advertising world. Latest figures relating to advertising expenditure put the new plc seventh in line behind such heavyweights as Eircom, detergents giant Procter & Gamble and Guinness. Interestingly, the number one spender is the Government.

Sherry FitzGerald spend was calculated at £4.8 million in 1999, but if you add in the advertising costs from the Ross McParland agency (which is now part of the Sherry FitzGerald group) the estate agency jumps further up the table, way ahead of big household names like the ESB, Dunnes Stores, Kelloggs and L'Oreal. Unlike the other companies at the top of the table, Sherry FitzGerald can easily afford the spend. After all, most of the money for advertising is paid by its clients, the people who sell properties.