But while his love affair with politics may be waning, Lord Saatchi can at least find some solace in his other passion: advertising.
Looking across London from his penthouse office in Soho earlier this month, he reflected on M&C’s growth since the torrid days a decade ago when the Saatchi brothers were ousted from the agency they had founded and built into one of the best-known in the country.
“Ten years ago we had one room, 30 people, no clients and no revenue,” he said. “Today we have 750 people in 15 offices with some of the best clients in the world. I hope I will be involved with this business until death do us part.”
Since Maurice and brother Charles returned to the stock market a year ago, they have picked up creative assignments from the likes of ITV, the car-parts retailer Halfords and the champagne brand Krug to add to long-standing clients such as British Airways and Dixons.
Recent earnings suggest things are moving along nicely. Despite forecasts of falling advertising spending, in April M&C posted a 4.8% rise in full-year revenues to £62.2m and an 8.5% increase in pre-tax profit to £8.1m.
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But the company’s share price has not performed strongly since last July’s float at 128Åp. It closed on Friday at 130p, valuing M&C at £70m.
A research note from Numis Securities recently pointed to M&C’s low valuation compared with its peers — at 12 times projected full-year earnings compared with the sector’s 16.
Now M&C’s management hopes to boost the share price by stepping up international growth. Already present in important markets such as America and China, the company is also expanding on the Continent. Last month, European chairman Nick Hurrell recruited three executives to establish a French M&C agency.
David Kershaw, group chief executive, said: “Raising capital for expansion in Europe was the principal reason for returning to the stock market.”
As advertisers turn away from the traditional 30-second television spot to communicate with consumers, Kershaw expects the proportion of revenues from non-advertising campaigns to rise markedly.
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Everything has not gone like clockwork since last year’s float. There was, after all, the farcical handling of the listing itself, which was postponed and then reinstated within the space of two hours amid confusion over a legal action against one of M&C’s subsidiaries.
There are also question marks over the founders’ long-term commitment. Kershaw responds to this by drawing attention to Hurrell and UK chairman Moray Maclennan. “There is our succession strategy,” he said.
But with the marketing-services giants, such as Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP, still hungry for acquisitions, is Kershaw not worried about becoming a takeover target? “A hostile takeover of a company that is more than 50%-owned by its management seems a rather unlikely prospect to me,” he said.