DLKW axes staff to prop up Creston share price

Delaney Lund Knox Warren & Partners has made 5% of its staff redundant, almost a year after it was bought by listed marketing services group Creston.

Delaney Lund Knox Warren & Partners has made 5% of its staff redundant, almost a year after it was bought by listed marketing services group Creston.

It made nine redundancies across the agency last week, after hiring 83 staff last year during a period of growth. Last year DLKW won 11 pitches totalling â¬135m (&£92m) of international business and lost only one.

Some industry sources say the redundancies may have been made in order to ensure group profitability, following a recent fall in share price for owner Creston, which bought the agency for &£32.8m.

Insiders cite as the reason for the lay-offs the loss of the &£11m Burger King business, and of Premier Foods’ Branston range to Clemmow Hornby Inge last month because of a client conflict.

A source close to the agency denies that management was under pressure from Creston: “Businesses work on the principle of growth. DLKW had a great year and was bringing people onto the staff, but if something goes wrong that is largely out of the management’s hands, you have to rein all that in a bit.”