There haven't been many good news stories about the finances of Formula One recently. Two teams have gone under in the space of the past few months and new sponsorship agreements have been thin on the ground. One team which has got the lion's share of new deals is Williams. In the past few weeks it has snatched from Lotus software firm Avanade and deodorant brand Rexona, which is known as Sure in the UK. Before the season began Williams also snapped up drinks brand Martini as a title sponsor and the benefit has already spread beyond those two brands.
Just Marketing International (JMI), the company responsible brokering for the Martini deal, is on track to give a £6m boost to the profits of its owner, Chime Communications according to an article by Pitpass' business editor Christian Sylt in the London Evening Standard.
In addition to brokering the Martini deal, JMI was responsible for F1's official partnerships with investment bank UBS and whiskey brand Johnnie Walker. In November last year the company was sold for £44m to Chime subsidiary CSM Sport & Entertainment which is chaired by London 2012 front-man Lord Coe.
"JMI is on track to have the most profitable year in its history with operating profits expected to be up between 12% and 16% in 2014," says the company's American chief executive Zak Brown. This is due to yield underlying profits of around £6.3m, up from just over £5m last year.
It should make a noticeable difference to Chime's bottom line which showed pre-tax profits of £25m in 2013 on revenue of £169.6m. The company was founded in 1989 by Margaret Thatcher's former PR adviser Lord Bell and was floated on the London Stock Exchange five years later.
Brown says that JMI has done more than $1bn of deals since he founded it in 1995. The bulk of its revenue comes from fees paid by the brands it represents. Last year it had total sales of £26.8m and Brown expects it to accelerate to £30.2m in 2014 with £33m projected for 2015. It just pips rival agencies such as Right Formula, the British agency founded by Robin Fenwick, a former partner manager at McLaren.
JMI's revenue is relatively predictable as it typically signs multi-year contracts. This year it was responsible for two of the most high profile motorsport deals on both sides of the Atlantic: Martini's partnership with Williams and telecoms firm Verizon's title sponsorship of IndyCar.
"Five years ago the business was 30% international and 70% from the USA but now it's reversed. The USA hasn't declined, it's more that there has been rapid growth internationally driven by F1," says Brown. He adds that JMI is "growing at consistent and constant 15 to 20% a year."
Underlying profits are expected to hit £7.2m next year and Brown says that the acquisition by CSM has contributed to this. "JMI and CSM have worked together over the past year to successfully integrate JMI into CSM where it makes sense. Back office functions have been rationalised and merged in some cases such as IT services, payroll services and insurance providers."
JMI has also benefited from CSM's broader network by bringing its clients into motorsport. The first fruit of this collaboration came this year when Banco do Brasil, the largest bank in Latin America, also signed up with Williams. Brown says that the bank is a client of CSM's Brazilian sports management company Golden Goal which "identified the opportunity with Banco and we then came in as the motorsport experts to provide the solution. So, Golden Goal and JMI are responsible for their Williams deal. It's a team effort."
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