SPACEANDPEOPLE, the shopping mall marketing specialist with operations in the UK, Germany and India, has seen its share price surge after delivering a bumper 43% rise in pre-tax profits to £2.27 million last year.

Shares in the Glasgow-based firm rose 16% after contract wins with Land Securities, co-owner of Buchanan Galleries, and Braehead owner Intu helped it lift net revenue 22% to £13.06m in the year to December 31.

Gross revenue generated for shopping centre groups was up 12% to £30.11m – the first time the figure topped £30m.

Chief executive officer Matthew Bending said the results, which included a major contribution from its German arm, reflected a strategy that was "well executed by the management team".

Mr Bending said: "We've built up such a credible reputation now that we're winning more and more portfolios. In the UK that was shown by Land Sec and CSS [Capital Shopping Centres, now Intu] and in Germany a new portfolio called MEC [Metro]. All in all it added a lot of new portfolios to the pipeline.

"The investment in the German retail licensing doubled, and it will double again in 2013. Everything's looking pretty good at the moment.

"Shopping centres really value what we do and we're adding new services and adding value where we can."

The firm earns from retail licensing, as it sub-lets space on behalf of shopping centres to small or start-up retailers, and from promotional activity.

The latter is similar to media sales and involves the company selling space to major brands, which use it to launch new products over short periods of time.

Although the company derives more revenue on the promotional side, Mr Bending said the margins involved in retail licensing are higher.

The deals with Land and Intu helped UK promotions business revenue rise 34% to £3.27m, though business revenue fell 6% in the home market.

Mr Bending said: "It is always great to win new venues but each venue group comes with a different set of objectives and strategic view of their mall space, so you have got to bespoke it.

"It really positions us as a market leader and it is incumbent on us to meet industry expectations, as opposed to our own expectations of quality control as well as revenue.

"It is important, but it is all part of the big scheme for us. It allowed us to recruit another seven or eight people in the Glasgow office."

Net revenue at the company was driven by its performance in Germany, where revenue from retail licensing rose by 124% to £1.97m, and on promotions by 61% to £1.96m.

The year saw the business win a contract with MEC Metro, owner of 36 largely provincial shopping centres in Germany. The deal builds on its association with ECE, the owner of around 110 shopping destinations in Germany (140 in Europe) and the biggest contributor to the company's turnover.

Shares closed up 14.5p at 102.5p.