Leith denies JWT deal
Bosses at The Leith Agency have denied reports that they are still in ‘serious’ talks with J Walter Thompson to sell the advertising agency, which has offices in Edinburgh and London.
Speaking of the rumours John Denholm, chairman of The Leith Agency, which counts Irn-Bru, Coors Lite and Standard Life amongst its clients, said that the management team had been approached by J Walter Thompson a few months ago, but those talks have now come to nothing.
He said: “There is nothing in this anymore. We got a tentative approach a few months ago from them and we had some discussions, but they never really got past an initial stage and were called off about two weeks ago.
"We get about three tentative approaches every year. So there is nothing unusual in this. Unless something unusual happens then this deal will not happen.”
The Leith Agency was in talks with what is now CheethamBell JWT in Manchester when Denholm was looking to open an office in Manchester. At that time Cheetham Bell was a relatively small independent agency with a highly creative reputation, but after talks the two parties could not agree on a deal.