Chairman Allan Rich (pictured) will tell the firm’s AGM this afternoon that “client activity in research has settled into a more normal pattern after the disruption seen last year, with a notably strong performance in health-related activity and from international research mandates”.

The group, whose research and consulting division includes Insight, Leapfrog and 2CV among other agencies, saw its revenue and profits fall last year but says there was a “marked pick-up” in the second half which continued into 2010.

Rich will say today that the group performed “strongly” in the first quarter.

“While there remains economic uncertainty, we are growing in confidence about the group’s performance.”