Headline PBIT was up 9% to £4.9m and headline PBT up 13% to £4.8m.

Headline DEPS was up 11% to 5.63p.

Dividend per share is increased by 11% to 0.83p.

Creston said there was a good performance by the Communications division: 6% revenue growth and 24% Headline PBIT growth.

Digital and online revenue was up 16% and represents 42% of Group revenue.

The group announced the acquisition of The Corkery Group, a New York based health and medical public relations company specialising in product and issues communications, complementing Creston's US healthcare company Cooney/Waters.

Don Elgie, Group CEO, said: 'We have performed well during the first half, growing revenue and Headline PBT by 14% and 13% respectively. Our like-for-like growth has been driven by new business wins from both new and existing clients, a growing amount of which is from referrals across our agencies and divisions.

'During the first half we continued to diversify, through servicing new geographies, launching new products and continuing to grow our digital business. We are confident of seeing the first half's positive momentum continue in the second half and believe our diversification does afford us some protection against market uncertainty. However, macro-economic events lead us to maintain a cautious outlook for the remainder of our financial year.'