M&C Saatchi profit up 10 pct on new accounts

March 18 (Reuters) - Advertising agency M&C Saatchi Plc said full-year profit rose 10 percent, boosted by new accounts, including Ballantine's whisky, LG Electronics Inc , Peroni beer and Virgin Holidays.

London-based M&C Saatchi, which opened branches in Stockholm, Singapore and Abu Dhabi in 2012, said headline pretax profit rose to 17.2 million pounds ($26 million) from 15.6 million pounds a year earlier.

Revenue increased 11 percent to 169.5 million pounds and comparable sales from the UK - the company's largest market -rose 13 percent to 75.4 million pounds, driven by strong sales in its mobile services and customer relationship management businesses.

M&C Saatchi was founded in 1995 by Charles and Maurice Saatchi after they were ousted from the board of Saatchi & Saatchi. The company's clients include Google Inc and microblogging website Twitter Inc.

M&C Saatchi's shares, which have gained 47 percent over the past year, closed at 217 pence on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.