SEATTLE: Text 100 has revealed that it is planning to open two new offices in the US in the next 12 months, while also trying to get a full listing on the London stock exchange.

CEO Tim Dyson disclosed that the international agency, which is rapidly expanding its US operations, is mulling its next office locations in the US. New York is favored, but Text 100 is also looking at Austin, Atlanta, San Diego and Los Angeles. "I fully expect to open one, if not two, new offices by the end of 1999," said Dyson. The firm set up shop in Rochester, Boston and San Francisco in 1997, and has grown rapidly across the globe in the past two years.

The growth was reflected in the agency's figures released last week. Worldwide, Text 100 last week reported profit of $2.2 million (US) on revenues of $26.6 million for the year ending July 31, 1998. The London-based firm also announced that it hopes to move from OFEX, where it is now publicly traded, to London's main market sometime next year.

The company's plans for expansion in the US have been buoyed by last week's news that the agency has landed its second-largest American account. Internet enterprise software firm Wall Data has named Text 100 as its agency of record, which is set to launch a corporate PR campaign in the business press next month.

Seattle GM Deb Hagen said that Wall Data did not hold a formal review; rather, the company tapped Text 100 because of work it had done on a consulting project last October. Portland-based KVO had previously handled the account.

"We've added a significant technology brand to our stable in the US, which is a step along the road to our becoming a serious player in the US market," Dyson said. He would not disclose the value of the account but said the Wall Data account is the second-largest that the agency holds, behind Xerox.

"Wall Data was at a crossroads. It had never advanced a corporate image, and had no connection between US PR and international PR," Hagen said. Text 100 is also handling project work for Wall Data in Australia and Germany.

Hagen will head up an eight-person account team. The Seattle office also beefed up staff with three new hires: two account executives and an account manager.

Founded three and a half years ago, the Seattle office generated $1.5 million in billings last year.

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