Worldwide revenue for the group, which includes the Leo Burnett and D'Arcy ad networks, was up to $1.9bn for the year, an increase of 5.6% from last year's figure of $1.8bn.
B|Com3 chief executive officer Roger Haupt said: "Despite a difficult economic environment in most of our major markets, our focus on improving margins resulted in a strong profit performance in 2001.
"Our long-term client relationships have served us well during 2001. In addition, new business in our media operations provided substantial growth, which offset softening in traditional advertising segments around the world," he said.
However, things were not looking so good for the group for the fourth quarter of the year. Worldwide revenue for the three months ending December 31 fell by 2.8% to $533.6m, with the non-US agencies particularly hard hit, seeing a 6% decline in revenue to $263.8m.
In the UK, D'Arcy lost several accounts during the year, most notably the Mars Bar work it had held for so long. Leo Burnett won the Nintendo account, but is now facing the prospect of losing its European work for McDonald's, an account that carries a budget of around $75m.
B|Com3's 2001 results include a one-off charge of $20.3m, relating to restructuring and other special charges. The group is 20% owned by Japanese advertising giant Dentsu. As well as its creative ad interests, it owns the media-buying and planning group Starcom MediaVest, and international public relations network Manning, Selvage & Lee.
Midway through last year, B|Com3 cancelled its IPO, blaming adverse market conditions. It had been scheduled for the beginning of this year.
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