The Week

PR Week UK, Friday, 20 March 2009, 12:00am,

STOP PRESS: Andrew Gowers, the ex-editor of the FT and former comms head at Lehman Brothers, is to take over from BP's head of media relations Roddy Kennedy when he retires later this year.

- Porter Novelli has made five redundancies as a result of the challenging business climate.

- The Treasury has appointed Jean-Christophe Gray as head of press and the Chancellor's principal spokesperson. He is currently head of the Treasury's EU finances team.

- Coalition PR, the music specialist, is to close after the death of founder Rob Partridge in November.

- Hitachi, Japan's largest electrical company, has handed Euro RSCG Biss Lancaster a six-figure brief to work as its lead European corporate agency.

- Reputation Inc has hired APCO director of corporate comms Jonathan Chandler as a partner.

- Bell Pottinger has rescued Ptarmigan from administration after buying parts of the business for an undisclosed fee. The firm will still trade as Ptarmigan, but will be run by Bell Pottinger North.

- The PRWeek 2009 Power Book Party takes place on Wednesday 25 March at London's Paramount, Centre Point for all those who entered the book. If you have not RSVP'd yet, please contact kate.gennery@haymarket.com.