Fleishman-Hillard has confirmed it will make a round of
redundancies throughout its UK offices as the agency loses a major
global account.
It is understood the decision on 5 November by telecoms giant Nortel
Networks to suspend all work with F-H in the UK, Europe and Asia, was a
contributing factor.
F-H managing director Paul Blackburn confirmed the firm will slash
positions across its UK workforce of 76.
Sources close to the firm claim the number of redundancies could be
between ten and 35 per cent.
Blackburn said: 'One of our key clients has asked Fleishman-Hillard to
suspend all European activity with immediate effect - we understand this
is due to financial pressures and is no reflection of the work we have
delivered for the past two years.
'This development and the current economic uncertainty has resulted in
the regrettable decision that we anticipate we will be making certain
positions redundant,' he added.
Nortel will continue to use F-H for product-related PR in North
America.
'We are reviewing our work with F-H and holding talks on a global level
on what their role within Nortel Networks will be,' said Nortel
spokesman Ben Atherton.
It is understood Nortel made the decision to suspend the F-H account as
a cost-cutting measure.
Last month the telecoms firm announced it was halving its worldwide
workforce from 93,000 at the beginning of the year to 45,000.
Atherton declined to comment on whether PR would instead be handled
in-house, but confirmed no pitch is planned to replace F-H.
Earlier last month, F-H also lost its six-figure UK PR business with
computer firm Dell, losing out to August.One Communications (PRWeek, 5
October).
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