Lowe plans to lay off staff

Lowe, the ad agency that recently resigned the £41m Orange advertising business, has issued a memo to its entire 260 staff warning that redundancies could be on their way.

The agency, which lost the £11m UK Burger King business to Delaney Lund Knox Warren (DLKW), has entered a 30-day consultation period. This is likely to mean that the agency is planning to make more than 20 people redundant – about ten per cent of the agency’s headcount.

The memo, which was from Lowe’s chief executive Chris Thomas and went out the same week it emerged that the agency was resigning Orange (MW Sept 5), points to “lost revenue” at the agency. It also says that, as income was down at the agency, “we may have to reduce staff numbers”.

Earlier this year Lowe was forced to resign the £5m Heineken business after Interbrew’s licence to brew the lager in the UK was terminated. The business was moved to Clemmow Hornby Inge.