According to the research, in the 14 months since January 2005 the average share price of marketing services firms rose by only 2.7%, compared with a FTSE All-Share index rise of over 25% cent during the same period.
Among those to see a decline in share price were many of the smaller groups, including NWD Group, M&C Saatchi, Huntsworth, Media Square, Cello Group and EQ Group.
Bob Willott, Marketing Services Financial Intelligence newsletter editor, said many of those who saw a decline are "either relatively new to the stock market or are revitalised shell companies".
He singles out M&C Saatchi as one of the worst performers in terms of share price, with shares falling by over 21% from their issue price of July 2004.
Last month, M&C Saatchi, which lost its 拢60m British Airways account last year, posted pre-tax profits for 2005 of 拢9.1m up 11.3%.
Despite the poor performance across the board, there were some notable exceptions, with four companies managing to outperform the FTSE over the period. These were: Motivcom, formerly P&MM Group; Creston; Chime Communications; and the biggest of the bunch, bid target Aegis Group.
Shares in Aegis have climbed to 136p. In November, when WPP Group and Hellman & Friedman decided not to bid for the media and market research firm its share price stood at 118p.
A key indicator of whether the sector can improve will be the AIM debut this month of the Mission Marketing Group, according to Willott.
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