Staying on the front foot

The mission’s year-end trading update indicates that the group continued its good performance in its traditionally stronger second half, albeit at a lower premium than first half progress. FY16 revenue and headline profit were up 8.0%, higher than GroupM’s estimate of UK ad spend growth at 7.2% and the 6.3% average top-line growth of the quoted smaller agency sector. Collaboration between the mission’s networked agencies continues to extend, with the strong (and loyal) client roster giving a deep pool in which to win a greater share of spend. The valuation discount to the sector has reduced, but remains unjustifiably large.