Irn-Bru ad agency sees revenues on the up

LEITH, the agency behind the award-winning Irn-Bru adverts, is bucking the general economic downturn, generating revenues "significantly" ahead of expectations.

Leith Agency and its sister firms north of the Border are trading around 60 per cent ahead of forecasts for the first half, boosted by strong public-sector spending.

But parent company Cello Group admitted yesterday it has had to lay off a handful of workers as a result of the current economic situation across the UK, although none of the cuts was in Scotland.

The London-listed group, which also owns Edinburgh direct marketing agency Navigator as part of its Tangible subsidiary, said it had been forced to make 1 million of cuts "given the general economic outlook". Cello said Tangible Group, which is headquartered in Edinburgh and encompasses both Leith Agency and Navigator as well as London agency Farm, was expected to increase revenue in the last six months of the year as many of its charity clients have second half-biased budgets.

Richard Marsham, left, managing partner at Leith, told The Scotsman: "We have had a really good first half with turnover coming in significantly ahead of expectations. We have had a lot of public-sector business, both in Scotland and Northern Ireland."

A new Cello Group office has recently opened in San Francisco, while it is also planning to launch a base in Germany.

However, the firm said yesterday that it had a cautiously optimistic outlook: "The board is mindful of the macro-economic environment and its potential impact on our business."