LONDON — M&C Saatchi, owner of M&C Saatchi Public Relations, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment and Talk.Global, said in a trading statement that organic revenue growth in 2018 continued to “outrun sector averages" and full-year results will be in line with the board’s expectations". The group also announced it has sold its 24.9% stake in media agency Walker Media to Publicis.

LONDON — Uber’s head of communications for Northern and Eastern Europe, Alex Belardinelli, has departed the company, a year after being promoted into the role from being head of communications for the UK and Ireland since 2015.

LONDON — Julia Hutton-Potts, eBay’s UK communications director, has left the auction site after 11 years. She was previously head of mass and brand PR at Vodafone in Australia and was also a practice director at Ogilvy PR in Australia.

LONDON — GCI Health has appointed Kim Walker (pictured) as deputy managing director, reporting to MD Kath Kerry, who now has sole leadership responsibility in the UK after joint MD Rikki Jones relocated to Singapore as Asia-Pacific MD. Walker was previously the head of healthcare consultancy Liberation Unlimited. Also in the UK, Hannah Morris has taken on a new role as senior director of European client development, and Bex Hibble joins the agency as a director from Ruder Finn.

BRUSSELS — Lobbying firm Alber & Geiger has brought Gustaaf Borchardt on board as a senior partner. He was previously director of the environment directorate-general of the European Commission, and had previously been director of the European Commission’s secretariat general and the directorate-general of justice and home affairs.

LONDON — Public affairs consultancy Headland has hired Jack Smith, a Labour Party senior adviser on elections and platform planning. In his new role, Smith will focus on the agency’s use of data to plan and execute campaigns. He will also advise clients on political engagement.

MUNICH — Technology agency Schwartz Public Relations has made three new hires to its team: Annika Sasse, former CEO of Sasse & Schockemöhle, joins as a senior consultant; Laura Höfken has joined the agency from Fortis PR to look after B2B clients; and Sara Singbartl joins from Stromberger PR to service consumer electronics clients. The agency, which picked up the OnePlus account at the end of last year, has also won new clients including management consultancy KPS.

LONDON — The Unmistakables, the agency launched last September to focus on minorities, diversity and inclusion, has started the year with three client wins: eating disorder charity Beat; Squad Social, a new platform for queer people to connect based on common interests; and co-working space Market Peckham.

LONDON — Consumer agency Tin Man has been commissioned by National Geographic to create a campaign to raise awareness of its Big Cats conservation initiative to halt the decline of lions, leopards and cheetahs. The agency worked with street artist Dean Zeus Colman to create a giant “missing cat” poster in Paternoster Square featuring a lion instead of a domestic cat. The campaign was supported with posters in cities including Bristol, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow.

MADRID — The International Public Relations Network (IPRN) has added eight new member agencies from around the world: Crest Communications in Prague; Headline in Santiago; INC and L45/The Van Group, in Rome and Milan; Lopito, Ileana & Howie in San Jose; Publik Kommunikation in Stockholm; W7 Worldwide in Jeddah and TDUB in Hamburg. IPRN, which was formed in 1995, now has 46 member agencies.

CHESTERFIELD, UK — B2B PR and content marketing agency Roaring Mouse has been appointed by Senseye, a VC-backed startup that provides data analytics to industrial organisations. Following a six-month trade PR trial the brief has been expanded to include corporate PR support. The account team is led by MD James Taylor, reporting to Senseye marketing manager Jonathan Wootten.

LONDON — Financial communications firm Prosek Partners has appointed Maria Jose Gonzalez as senior account director. She returns to Prosek from Goldman Sachs, where she spent a year supporting the consumer banking and investment management business in New York.