Aegis Media reviewing future of Brindley business

Aegis Media is reviewing the future of Brindley Advertising following the division's loss of a lucrative account with the Office of Public Works (OPW) last month, as well as a number of other contracts.

“We’re looking at everything,” says Liam McDonnell, chief executive of Aegis Media Ireland, which bought Brindley in 2005. “[Brindley] has a great track record, it has been around a long time, but it arguably hasn’t evolved at the breadth and pace that it should have.”

The OPW account, which covered the planning, buying and placing of Government ads in the national and regional press, was understood to be worth at least €4 million a year to Brindley, a long-term holder of the account. However, the contract was recently won by rival MediaVest.

Meanwhile, accounts just filed at the Companies Office show that Aegis Media Ireland recorded a €4.1 million pretax profit last year, up from €1.9 million in 2011.

Turnover from its ongoing operations rose 11 per cent to €83 million, while some €52 million in turnover was also added following the transfer into the company of the trade and assets of iProspect Digital, Vizeum and Brindley. The multinational communications group, which also owns the Carat agency, employs about 130 people across the group in Ireland.

McDonnell says 2013 "hasn't been a bad year", although confidence remains fragile. The company, boosted by the resources of Aegis Group plc's new owner, Japan's Dentsu, is investing in its digital performance marketing division iProspect, he says. "We're trying to expand the offering."

How 2014 will pan out is “the $64,000 question”, he adds, with the outcome dependent on how the UK, euro zone and US economies perform. “I’m an optimist by nature. There are shards of light and, as they say, we hope they’re not coming from an oncoming train.”