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After How-Do’s earlier report that events firm Reflex Communications was looking to grow through mergers and acquisitions, the firm has now announced a union with Manchester’s With. The new entity, With Reflex Group (WRG), will now boast combined revenues of over £17million.
The move may come as a surprise to some observers, after Reflex MD Barry Day told How-Do he was looking to acquire firms with a turnover of between £500k and £1million. Although at the time he did state “if we come across an opportunity which is much bigger, we’d be happy to consider a merger.” Reflex’s turnover earlier this year was stated to be £7million. The new company will rank as one of the UK’s largest ‘live communications’ agencies, mixing 35 years of combined trading experience with offices in Manchester’s DEVA Centre (With’s current base), High Wycombe and Earls Court, London. Day, who was previously the driving force behind Melville Exhibition and Event Services and Arena Event Services, will take on the mantle of MD, while his fellow Reflex colleague Mark Wallace will move into the chairman role. The remaining senior partners will be drawn from both businesses - they are; Stuart Greaves, Chris Gosling, Nigel Bale and Carl Halliday. At the time of writing it was unclear how much money had changed hands in the deal, or how the shareholding of the new operation would be split. Wallace, who himself was previously CEO of events giant Caribiner, said of the merger: “Our aim is to grow a very substantial communications business which breaks the traditional agency model. Manchester is a vibrant, media-led city and this combination of its two leading agencies, both of which offer a fresh and cost effective approach to creative thinking, will overnight move us substantially closer to our objective. “With and Reflex both have great people and with complementary expertise in strategic creativity and tactical delivery across all disciplines, it makes perfect sense to bring the teams together to become a real alternative to traditional London based agencies.” Prior to the merger Reflex had a range of clients from sectors as diverse as pharmaceutical, sporting and government, while With worked with big name brands such as Kellogg’s, Orange and John Lewis. With may be more familiar to some How-Do readers as Mainstream, the name it traded under for many years before re-branding. Although With has perhaps its strongest pedigree in the events sector, the agency also operates in advertising, new media and design disciplines – qualities that will have appealed to the ambitious Reflex chiefs. http://www.with.co.uk http://www.reflexcomms.co.uk Something to add? Then leave a comment below or email us now.
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