Rufus Leonard considers buyouts despite cutbacks

MAD.CO.UK - 05 February 2004

Full service agency Rufus Leonard says it’s on the lookout for acquisitions, despite making the latest in a serious of redundancies only a couple of months ago.

The company has moved to scotch rumours of a sale, which have arisen as a consequence of repeated staff cutbacks.  It says that, as a result of last year’s restructuring, it’s now in a position to boost certain areas of its activities with a purchase.

CEO Neil Svenson told NMA that the agency had seen a boom in business this January, which it anticipated would continue for the next three or four months, allowing it to now look at expanding its operations rather than making further rationalisation.

“We’ve come out of a painful period of redundancies,” said Svenson.  “Our business is more solid as a result and with great clients.  It gives us something we can build on.  We’re looking at opportunities that will allow us to serve these clients even better.”

Svenson said that discussions were underway with potential acquisitions, but the firm had nothing to announce at this stage.  He said a deal was possible within the first quarter of this year.

Rufus doesn’t, however, appear to be looking to bolster further the digital strand of its business, which Svenson said was already strong enough.  The target of the acquisition is more likely to be in other areas of marketing communications, with traditional media, such as events and exhibitions, cited by Svenson.

He said Rufus had “a little bit of cash in the bank” rather than being “cash rich”, but that this capitol was enough for it to purchase a company at the smaller end of the scale.

The agency let 10 staff go at the end of last year (NMA 28 November), taking its total headcount down to some 45.  Its clients include Lloyds TSB, AXA, BT and O2.