LONDON: The UK advertising industry appears evenly divided on the impact of the nation's vote to leave the European Union, with around fifth of companies in the sector seeing growth possibilities and a similar proportion claiming to have already lost business.

Advertising think-tank Credos, part of the Advertising Association, surveyed 195 companies – mostly agencies – operating in the advertising industry and found that 23% believed Brexit offers opportunities for international growth.

But 22% indicated that they had lost business or contracts as a result of the vote last June.

The potential advantages listed included a lower exchange rate, better trading outside of the EU and fewer EU regulations.

Whatever the experience of individual agencies, overall advertising expenditure appears to have been unaffected. In November, media agency GroupM professed itself surprised as it revised upwards its forecasts for spending in 2016 and 2017, and said that the impact of Brexit had been "negligible".

Earlier the Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report had come to a similar conclusion as it revealed record adspend of £10bn in the first half of the year and suggested that Brexit would not slow the ongoing trends in internet and mobile spending.

Definitive Advertising Association/Warc figures for adspend in the quarter immediately following the Brexit vote will be available at the AA's annual LEAD conference on January 26, where Karen Bradley, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, will give a keynote address.

Stephen Woodford, CEO of the Advertising Association, observed that "Europe is a big part of UK advertising's global success, so it is incredibly important and positive that Karen [Bradley] has agreed to join us at LEAD, and continue our conversation with Government about the risks and opportunities of Brexit".

Data sourced from Advertising Association; additional content by Warc staff