Profits at Chime's sports division slumped 40% in the first half of the year as "the hangover from the London Games took its toll," but the communications group has predicted a bumper '14 fueled by the Brazilian World Cup, according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. Chime's performance "was pulled down by its sports and entertainment division," which is chaired by Sebastian Coe, which suffered from the lack of a major sports event. The division, which the company said performed given the same period last year the Olympics fueled a 64% profit surge, reported a 40% fall in operating profit in the first six months to £4.5M ($7B). The sports division made £40M ($62M) in revenue from London Olympics-related business. Overall the sports marketing, advertising and PR group has reported total pre-tax profits of £600,000 ($930,000) in the first half, a year-on-year fall of 73% (GUARDIAN, 8/28). In London, James Titcomb reported Chime expects total sponsorship spending during next year’s World Cup to be roughly £1B ($1.5B) -- a 50% increase on '10’s showcase in South Africa. The company said it has already won eight contracts for Brazil 2014, which "considerably exceeds" business from '10, and expects up to 25% of next year’s profits to come from the World Cup alone. Chime CEO Chris Satterthwaite said, "The fundamental thing is that [football] viewership is growing exponentially. Half of the world watches Premier League football and the World Cup will beat that" (TELEGRAPH, 8/28).
