M&C Saatchi PLC on Thursday said trading was in line with expectations and ‘well ahead’ of the ‘challenging’ prior year.

Ahead of Thursday’s annual general meeting, the London-based advertising agency said ‘year to date performance has continued the good momentum we saw in the second half of 2023 and is well ahead of the challenging prior year’.

Overall, we are trading in line with expectations, it added.

Like-for-like net revenue growth is low single digits, as expected, reflecting improved performances in M&C Saatchi’s Advertising and Media divisions, and continuing strong growth in Issues, the company stated.

M&C Saatchi said its focus on profitability has ensured that operating margins are well ahead of prior year. Net cash has continued to grow since the 2023 year end, it added.

The company said it was on track to deliver £10 million of annualised cost savings by the end of 2024, as previously announced.

The structural changes to the cost base are expected to increase operational leverage and help to support margin expansion and cash generation.

As part of its ‘simplification’ strategy, the divestment of M&C Saatchi (Switzerland) SA, was also announced Thursday.

M&C Saatchi said it has sold its entire shareholding to the local director, Olivier Girard, for a nominal consideration.

The Swiss entity operated at break-even in 2023, but has been loss-making in 2024 to date, the company explained.

M&C Saatchi also on Thursday confirmed that Zaid Al-Qassab has joined the company as chief executive officer and joined the board after the AGM. Al-Qassab was chief marketing officer at television broadcaster Channel 4.

This has allowed Zillah Byng-Thorne to move back to non-executive chair from executive chair.

Shares in M&C Saatchi were down 0.5% to 204.00 pence in London on Thursday.

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