The group, which owns the Citigate PR brand as well as advertising and marketing interests, was also hit by a 拢8.5m exceptional restructuring charge, as it reduced staff levels by 240 over the year.
Turnover was up by 5% from 拢265.7m for the year ended February 2001 to 拢286.3m. Group operating profit stayed unchanged at 拢27.8m, while the dividend has gone up by 17% to 0.7p a share.
Hardest hit was Incepta's Citigate Cunningham technology PR agency, which has offices in California, Texas and Massachusetts. The dotcom crash and troubles in the technology sector affected the agency and dragged down the operating margins for the public relations division of Incepta to 13%. However, the agency has now returned to profitability.
David Wright, executive chairman of Incepta, said: "These results have been achieved in the face of one of the most challenging periods our industry has faced. Our budgets have been prudently prepared on the basis that there will be no year-on-year increase in revenues and this implies a second-half weighting in both revenue and profitability."
Despite his conservative prognosis, Wright hinted at some signs of recovery. He said that during March and April of this year, the group was performing in line with expectations and there were early, but fragile, indications of a tentative recovery.
Shares in Incepta remained static at 59.45p when the markets opened this morning.
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