(Reuters) - Advertising agency M&C Saatchi Plc (LSE:SAA) said full-year profit rose 8 percent as it brought more clients on board and won new contracts from existing customers.

The company, which handles campaigns for customers such as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), LG Electronics and IKEA Group (IKEA.UL), said pretax profit rose to 18.6 million pounds for the year ended December 31, from 17.2 million pounds a year earlier.

Revenue rose 5 percent to 177.4 million pounds.

M&C Saatchi is popular for Google's (GOOG.L) "Good to know" campaign, the NHS's "Change 4 Life" promotion and its recreation of a submarine crash in a Milan street for Europ Assist IT's "Protect Your Life" campaign.

The company, which was founded by Charles and Maurice Saatchi in 1995 after they were ousted from the board Saatchi & Saatchi, raised its dividend for the year to 5.45 pence from 4.95 pence a year earlier.

Shares in the company were untraded on Thursday morning. They closed at 297 pence on Wednesday on the London Stock Exchange.

The advertising firm counts Huntsworth Plc (HNTS.L), Chime Communications Plc (CHW.L) and much larger WPP Plc (WPP.L) among its rivals.

(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)