Next 15 Group PLC on Tuesday reported a slight decrease in half-year revenue and kept its interim dividend unchanged, two weeks after a major customer declined to renew its contract.

The London-based public relations agency said revenue decreased 0.2% to £364.1 million in the six months to July 31, from £364.9 million for the same period in 2023. Adjusted to exclude ‘direct costs’, which decreased 1.5% to £77.3 million from £78.5 million, net revenue edged up 0.1% to £286.8 million from £286.4 million.

Pretax profit increased 37% to £33.4 million from £24.3 million. Adjusted operating profit, which included additional expenses like costs associated with restructuring, fell 16% to £48.1 million from £57.0 million. Diluted earnings per share jumped 55% to 21.1 pence from 13.6p, while adjusted diluted EPS fell 20% to 30.3p from 37.9p.

Finance expenses decreased 17% to £13.6 million, and finance income surged around fivefold to £15.4 million.

Next 15 also declared an interim dividend of 4.75p per share, unchanged from the year before.

The company said its ‘mixed performance’ was ‘largely driven by a continued weakness in spend from our technology customers which was down 13% year on year and UK government departments which was down 28% driven in part from the earlier than expected general election. Our insights business, Savanta, also suffered from weakness in its marketplace.

‘Beyond these areas, we have experienced robust performances in other segments, most notably consumer packaged goods and retail.’

Going forward, Next 15 said the ‘disappointing loss’ of a ‘large contract’ with its venture-building and investing business Mach49 ‘will have an impact on this year‘s financial performance although it will have a greater impact for FY26 and FY27, as the contract had been expected to contribute just over £80 million of revenue in FY26 and FY27’.

On the other hand, Next 15 continued: ‘Whilst the contract ending is disappointing, Mach49 continues to be well positioned to capture opportunities relating to growth and innovation consulting and despite a slower start to the year, we anticipate a recovery in trading during the second half of the year from the rest of its customer base.’

Next 15 said it is not currently factoring in a spending recovery from technology customers for the rest of the year to January 31, or into financial 2026. It does however expect government spending to recover in early financial 2026, due to ‘the recent change in government alleviating political uncertainty in the UK’.

‘Looking ahead, we are confident of meeting the recently revised market expectations which followed the disappointing news about the large contract in Mach49 ending earlier than anticipated, as announced earlier in September,’ the firm added.

Shares in Next 15 were down 5.0% at 461.77p each in London on Tuesday morning.

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