WASHINGTON — FTI Consulting’s strategic communications segment saw revenues drop 8.8% to $60.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, and 5.9% for the year as a whole.

The Q4 decrease in revenues was primarily due to a $4.8 million decline in pass-through revenues, according to the firm’s earning report.

The quarter, however, showed an uptick in business from Q3, when revenue was down 11.7% from the same period of time the previous year, largely due to the Covid pandemic.

“I am pleased with the results given the challenges that the world faced last year,” said Mark McCall, the global leader of FTI's communication segment.

Adjusted segment EBITDA was $11.7 million, or 19.4% of segment revenues, compared to $9.9 million, or 14.9% of segment revenues, in the prior year quarter. The increase in Adjusted segment EBITDA was primarily due to lower expenses.

Q4 marked the third consecutive quarter of revenue decline for the segment.

The group's revenue dropped more in Q3 than it did in Q2, when revenue dropped $2.2m, or 3.8%, to $56.9m from the second quarter of 2019. 

Business was slightly up, 1.2%, in the first quarter of 2020, during which businesses started changing dramatically due to the coronavirus outbreak.

That quarterly lift furthered the growth trend FTI’s communications segment saw in 2018 and 2019, during which revenue grew 16%.