Cannes agency of the year GUT doubles profits as it eyes global expansion

GUT, the Cannes Lions-winning agency and independent network of the year, doubled pre-tax profits to $7m (£5.6m) last year, annual accounts for its UK holding company show.

When Anselmo Ramos and Gaston Bigio, two former executives from WPP’s DAVID, co-founded GUT in Buenos Aires and Miami in 2018, they created a UK holding company at Companies House for accounting purposes, even though the agency had no UK operations.

The five-year-old network now has seven offices after expanding to São Paolo, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Toronto and Amsterdam.

It is understood these subsidiaries send dividends to the UK parent, which then pays out money for a number of purposes, including distributing profits and investing in new offices and capabilities across the network.

However, it is thought the $7m (£5.6m) profit for the 12 months to 31 December 2022 does not give a complete picture of the network’s global operations.

The UK accounts disclose limited financial information, with no revenue figure, because the holding company is relatively small and has an “exemption” under Companies House rules.

A person familiar with GUT’s operations said revenues have increased between 30% and 50% every year since launch and continue to grow at a similar rate in 2023.

GUT is targeting $70m in revenue this year through a mixture of organic growth and expansion.

The agency opened its first European office in Amsterdam in March and has more than 500 staff.

GUT is expected to open in the UK in due course. “GUT London will happen,” Ramos told the Campaign Cannes Lions daily global podcast in June, after the agency’s triumph at the advertising festival.

GUT has 17 partners, who have a share of the profit, and there are no external investors, Ramos said in the interview in June.

GUT wants to be “the most influential agency in the world” and “our plan is global domination”, he added, saying expansion to Asia as well as a London office were on the agenda.


“We’re having fun, we love what we do. We want to have more fun in more markets.”