Sheffield-based creative agency Jaywing reports net revenue growth after taking on marketing for Skipton Building Society

Sheffield-based Jaywing said it had increased the cross selling of services to clients and achieved a steady stream of new business wins.

Commenting on the results, Andrew Fryatt, CEO of Jaywing plc, said: "We are pleased to report net revenue growth of 24% in H1, returning to pre-pandemic levels, despite what continues to be a challenging market. Net Revenue per head increased by 22% year on year to £40,000.

"The business also achieved a significant improvement in underlying profitability, which has been somewhat masked by the impact of Covid-related support and salary sacrifice during 2020. Excluding these, EBITDA improved from £0.041m to £0.986m.

"A highlight of the first half was taking on the marketing for Skipton Building Society, in addition to our existing relationship in Risk Consulting. We have also won new business in the UK from Cox Automotive, Rush Hair & Beauty, CityFibre, HSBC, Vive, and Avant Homes, along with contract extensions with major clients, including Secure Trust. In Australia, new business wins included AMP Capital, Perpetual and Narellan Pools.

"The total number of clients generating revenue in the half increased from 200 to 211, led by growth in retail and in financial services.

"Within the UK, we have significantly increased the cross selling of services to clients across our two established business streams - risk consulting and integrated marketing, which overlap in the underlying role of Data Science.

"The application of Data Science techniques and technologies to marketing challenges is resonating strongly with both new and existing clients, supporting Jaywing's distinctive positioning in our markets. With global marketing spend expected to exceed 2019 this year, and digital spend now greater than all other channels combined, we are enabling our clients to move up the digital marketing maturity curve towards market leading positions.

"In Australia, where the pandemic impact has mainly affected the labour market, Net Revenue grew by 55% year on year, with multiple new business wins. With the borders having been closed, wage inflation has been well above normal in the last 12 months, but this is expected to stabilise as the borders reopen.

"Through the half year we completed the final payments for the acquisition of the remaining 25% of Massive Group in Australia. On 2 November 2021 we announced that we have now taken full ownership of Frank Digital Pty Ltd for a final payment of AUS $1.2m (£0.7m), which will be paid in a series of monthly payments between now and 30 April 2022 from the surplus cash flows of the combined Australian businesses. We are moving ahead with integrating our two Australian companies as Jaywing Australia, focusing on continued revenue growth in a more efficient structure.

"The integration of the two Australian businesses will also enable us to present an integrated marketing proposition there, supported with Data Science from the UK.

"Within the UK, we have consolidated all trading activities into Jaywing UK Limited to enable us to continue to focus on improving operating efficiencies.

"Our steady stream of new business wins gives us confidence that we can continue to drive further growth in both the UK and Australia, and we believe our integrated operating structures can now support much of that growth with existing resources. We continue to look for appropriate opportunities to improve our operating efficiency including reviewing our premises footprint in 2022 and consolidation of teams where possible."