Media and communications group, Aegis has announced the appointment of Robert Lerwill as chief executive, taking over from Doug Flynn who has held the position since 1999.
The current chief executive of Aegis, Doug Flynn, will be joining Rentokil Initial as chief executive. During his time at Aegis, Flynn proved instrumental in developing the management teams within the Group and expanding the Company in its two core areas of advertising and market research.
Lerwill, who will take over the role in late March, is currently a non-executive director of Aegis, joining the Group’s board in 2000. Prior to working at Aegis, Lerwill served telecomms company Cable & Wireless, in both a financial and operational capacity as group finance director and then as chief executive, in charge of the £1.5 billion turnover Cable & Wireless Regional Division. Before Cable & Wireless, Lerwill was the group finance director of global advertising company, WPP Group.
Commenting on the appointment, Colin Sharman, chairman of Aegis said: “Robert has extensive experience of the media world, both internationally and in the UK – key credentials to his appointment. Importantly, as a long-standing non-executive of Aegis, he also knows the business and its management well, ensuring continuity and further development of the Company and its growth programme. Aegis is in a strong position to develop and Robert will bring further momentum to this.
He added: “Doug has developed the management team at Aegis, extended our reach in both advertising and market research, and built the business internationally. We wish him well in his new role outside the media sector. There will be a suitable hand over period, which will ensure stability within the business.”
Aegis issued a positive trading statement in December last year(see Strong 2004 And Future For Aegis), stating that the Group’s media operations had performed well throughout 2004, with turnover ahead on a year on year basis. Subsidiary company Carat continued the positive trend, performing well over the past year and increasing its market share. The company performed well in the US, Asia-Pacific and although Carat France lost a number of clients toward the end of the year, trading on the European market was still strong.
Synovate, the market research arm of Aegis, also made good progress in 2004, with particularly good growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific. The company saw excellent progress in the practice areas of product testing, consumer motivation and customer satisfaction as well as in its specialist healthcare and automotive research businesses.
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