Prone's PR and training firm records 2010 profit

THE COMMUNICATIONS Clinic – the public relations and training company chaired by Terry Prone – made a profit of €139,802 in the year to the end of March 2010, according to abridged accounts filed at the Companies Office.

Anton Savage, Ms Prone’s son and the managing director of the company, said it had paid off the initial investments of its directors earlier than planned as a result of a faster than expected expansion of the company.

The firm made a profit of about €72,000 in the previous 12-month period and Mr Savage said its current financial year had seen the business expand further.

He said the Communications Clinic had enjoyed good growth in the training side of its business, which provides media and presentation-skills coaching to clients. He said expenditure by businesses on such training had “got constricted hugely” during the recession, but was starting to recover.

The company also regularly provides media advice to politicians across the political spectrum.

Mr Savage said it was the company’s policy not to allow one client to account for more than 10 per cent of its turnover.

Ms Prone is a high-profile media consultant who writes a regular column for the Irish Examiner, while her husband Tom Savage, who is also a director of the company, is chairman of the board of RTÉ.