Denholm denies agency for sale after JWT talks
Denholm: looking for an exit strategy?
Rumours that the management team at The Leith Agency are touting the business for sale have been staunchly denied by the agency’s founder and chairman, John Denholm.
The denial comes shortly after Denholm said that takeover talks between the agency and WPP-owned advertising agency J Walter Thompson had stalled. The potential deal would have seen JWT acquire The Leith’s two offices in Edinburgh and in Soho, London, which handle clients such as Standard Life, Irn-Bru, Coors Lite and Carling.
Speaking of the JWT talks, Denholm said that the management team had indeed been approached by J Walter Thompson a few months ago and talks had taken place, but those initial talks had now come to nothing.
He said: “There is nothing in this any more. 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.”
Last year Denholm instigated a plan to distance himself from the agency when he took up a non-executive directorship with Denholm Associates, which takes him out of the Leith Agency for one day a week. At that time he denied any immediate plan to retire from advertising, but did say he was thinking about his future.
Around four years ago The Leith 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 high creative reputation, but after talks the two parties could not agree on a deal.