Big’s Barr and Gibson in £700,000 dividend boost

TWO of Scotland’s best-known public relations executives each received more than £700,000 in dividends last year, according to the latest accounts.

Alex Barr and Neil Gibson, 
co-founders of the Big Partnership, Scotland’s biggest PR agency, each saw their income boosted by a £709,919 payout.

Although directors’ pay fell, shareholders in the company shared £1.74 million in dividends. Fellow director Zoe Ogilvie (nee Corsi) was paid £176,614, while Allan Buchan received £116,012 and Marjorie Calder £19,046. No dividends were paid the previous year.

Total directors’ pay, including pension contributions fell to £534,965 from £761,846 with the highest paid director receiving a total package of £132,465 from £232,465 the previous year.

The accounts show the Glasgow-based firm’s pre-tax profits rose 43 per cent to just over £1m in the year to 31 May as turnover edged up 4.6 per cent to £6.43m.

During the year the company also paid rental income of £45,312 to a company which Barr and Gibson have an interest in for use of its Park Circus Place offices in Glasgow.

Big said its results were in line with expectations given the current economic backdrop. Average staff numbers across the group during the year edged up by one to 99.

The agency, which is the largest PR and digital marketing agency outside London, now 
operates across five offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Fife, 
Glasgow and Liverpool.

The Liverpool office, which was opened last summer, represented the agency’s first foray south of the Border. The move had come about through longstanding client Peel Ports, which asked the agency to extend the work it did on projects around the Port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal.