Chime sees its 2009 pre-tax profits increase by 14%

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 | By Joe Fernandez

Reporting its profits for 2009 today (10 March) Chime says its adjusted pretax profit was £18.8m, compared with £16.5m last year.

Revenue rose 8.5% to £300.9m, which it says was boosted by growth in its sports marketing division following its acquisition of Essentially Group Ltd and strong performance by VCCP.

The company is now seeking to expand its market research and data offerings. It has acquired market research and data consultancy Tree (London) Limited from Cagney Plc for £2m in cash.

Lord Bell, chairman of the group (pictured), says: “We will continue our policy of controlling our costs, increasing the proportion of our costs that are variable and we are targeting an improvement in our margin.”

Numis Securities predicrs that going forward “we expect Chime to benefit from gradually improving underlying markets in 2010 in addition to the uplift from recent acquisitions.”