Posting its results for the year ending February 28 2003, Incepta said that the results reflected a "very difficult trading environment". Shares in the company fell by 12%, or 1.5p, to 12p when the market opened this morning.
The company also said it was writing off assets of 拢35.9m, primarily related to Citigate Cunningham, the US technology public relations agency that has suffered after the collapse of the dotcom sector.
David Wright, chairman of the Incepta Group, said: "The current trading environment remains difficult in all of our key markets and we have yet to see any signs of sustained recovery."
Citigate specialises in financial PR and has been hit by the downturn in merger and acquisition activity, and gross revenue across Incepta's public relations division fell by 4% to 拢82.1m.
Revenues at Incepta's specialist advertising division, which handles financial clients, were down by 23% to 拢25.7m, although the company picked up work for clients including Scottish Widows and Investec.
Despite the gloom, Wright maintained that in the longer term, there was reason to be cheerful. He said: "We have maintained and, in some cases, enhanced our market-leading positions throughout this downturn. Where there has been ground to win, we have won it and this gives us confidence in the group's medium-term prospects."
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