Advertising group M&C Saatchi said today it had made up for the loss of the British Airways account, driving up revenues by nearly 9% in the first half of the year.
The firm said its revenues were up to £34.7m in the six months to the end of June, "comfortably replacing" the BA income.
M&C Saatchi lost the BA account in October, ending a 23-year association between the airline and the Saatchi brothers, whose Saatchi & Saatchi agency came up with the famous "World's favourite airline" slogan.
The account made up around 7% of its total revenues.
The recovery has been spearheaded by growth in media planning and buying, direct marketing and PR, alongside winning new accounts such as Allied Bakeries and Lucozade.
Shares in the company rose by 6.8% today to 100.5p, reflecting the company's forecast for full-year profits to be ahead of expectations.
However, in the first half of the year profits fell by 30% to £2.9m, M&C Saatchi said, because of the costs of the company's expansion programme.
In July, it opened a new office in Germany, its second in continental Europe, while the launch costs of its outlets in Paris, Bangkok and New Delhi have eaten into profits. Negotiations to open an office in Spain are continuing.
The company said the UK had been the biggest driver of new business, with revenues up 6.6% to £20.3m - and up 14% excluding the BA effect.
Asia and Australia were up 7.2% to £12.3m, America was up 11.3% to £1.6m - in spite of the BA account loss hurting revenues at the New York office - while Europe made a contribution of £0.5m.
"Although our profits have been impacted by further investment to support revenue growth and expansion into new markets, this leaves us well placed to build on our position," said the agency's chief executive, David Kershaw.
"The new business pipeline remains strong and we expect profits for the full year to be significantly ahead of our previous expectations. The outlook into 2007 is good."
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