Pre-CloseTrading Statement

Creston PLC 27 September 2007 27 September 2007 Creston plc Pre-close trading statement Creston plc, the Insight and Communications Group, issues the following trading update for the six month period to 30 September 2007 in advance of announcing its interim results on 30 November. The Board has been pleased with the number and size of the new business wins, which have demonstrated the quality and industry standing of the Group companies. New client wins across the Group include Alton Towers, Capital One, Freeview, GlaxoSmithKline, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Pricerunner.co.uk, Royal Mail, Smart cars and Telstra. In addition to these wins, there have been major new project and brand wins from existing clients such as AstraZeneca, Capital Radio, Infinti from Nissan, direct marketing consultancy for Numico in Austria and Thailand, Opel, Roche, Sainsbury Bank from Sainsbury's, Slim Fast from Unilever, Vauxhall, and Sunbites from Walkers Crisps. Cross-selling between Creston's operating companies has also been very successful in the period with new projects being won from several clients including AstraZeneca, Morrisons, Servier, Stihl and Toshiba. The Board is confident that the wins will maintain a similar like for like revenue growth that was reported at 12% for the first quarter. Digital and on-line projects continue to grow as a proportion of revenues and we have increased our investment in specialist staff to match this development. This necessary investment will have a very minor impact on first half operating margin. The balance sheet is strong and we have substantial unutilised bank facilities. The Board retains the flexibility to settle earn out liabilities predominantly in cash and loan notes rather than the issue of shares, as was demonstrated in the settlement of the two earn outs in June of this year, which were 100% in loan notes. The Group has continued to perform well in the first half of the year demonstrating its ability to deliver growth as a diversified Insight and Communications Group. The new business pipeline continues to be strong with major pitches planned across all companies and we are confident that our successful pitch to win ratio will ensure a positive impact for the rest of the financial year. For further information, please contact: Creston plc Tel: 020 7930 9757 Don Elgie, Chief Executive Barrie Brien, COO & CFO www.creston.com Hogarth Partnership Limited Tel: 020 7357 9477 Chris Matthews / Sarah Macleod / Sarah Richardson This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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