CAN Manchester sustain a financial public relations division to rival the Square Mile? MC2 managing director Mike Perls certainly hopes so and has invested a significant amount of money on a hunch that he can take a healthy share of the stock market companies' publicity needs.

A financial PR offering is the latest chapter in the eight-year history of the professional services marketing business which Mr Perls co-owns 70/30 with PR head Jenny Morgan.

The launch comes at a time when the Little Peter Street consultancy has pushed its head count to 35 and achieved annual turnover in the region of £2.5m.

The new venture has entailed the appointment of Sarah Lindgreen, previously director of top London financial PR agency, Brunswick, to lead the new team.

Ex-Stock Exchange head of marketing and communications, Pam Mapes has also joined the team and will be based in the City of London at the headquarters of the Quoted Companies Alliance.

Together they understand that, while Manchester is a hotbed for traditional PR business, winning support for a serious financial service, publicising flotations and rights issues will take a lot of work.

Risk

Mr Perls said: "I think it's a huge risk. We are doing something which has never been done before successfully from here. I don't think that you could ever say that it's not a risk, but it has been throughly thought through."

As might be expected, Ms Lindgreen says she did her `due diligence' before accepting the role and believes that her new boss might be being a little over-cautious in discussing the venture.

She believes that modern technology has made location less important and that MC2's position in Manchester places it in a perfect position to cash in on the city's financial services boom.

But while Mr Perls is aware of the task at hand, he's optimistic that it will pay dividends.

"I fully expect the financial PR offering to be at least as big as the rest of the agency is currently within another eight years," he added. "I think we are at the beginning of something big and new and that other financial PR businesses will one day grow up in Manchester."

Meanwhile, from a standing start in 1999, MC2 has already been recognised as the largest independent PR in the north west.

Public relations is already the full-service marketing agency's biggest team with around 20 employees and clients range from consumer brands like Benedictine Liqueur to Brewin Dolphin and Grant Thornton.

"We have a great brand and have enjoyed impressive growth since we set up eight years ago," Mr Perls added. "This financial expertise will give us an additional point of difference for existing and new clients."