• Reuters, Friday, March 28, 2008 12:15 PM

British advertising firm M&C Saatchi says that while it had a good 2007, it expects a more challenging 2008 as U.S. clients pull back on spending. The group posted a 53% bounce in 2007 profit on the back of organic growth and acquisitions. But Chief Executive David Kershaw says that while there are no signs of an economic slowdown in many top markets, the U.S. is looking tougher. "Overall, we remain happy; the outlook remains in line with current expectations," he says. "But America is the area where (we) have seen the consumer pulling back more dramatically and so clients have followed suit in terms of their budget--but we haven't seen that spread into the UK or the rest of Europe."

He hastens to add that the U.S. accounts for less than 5% of the company's revenues and "the first quarter has been good--and there's no indication of the second quarter collapsing ... and we're not seeing budgets being slashed anywhere in Europe."

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