THERE was a shake-up looming at the top of the advertising trade today when M&C Saatchi said chief executive Moray MacLennan will retire at the end of September.
His chair Zillah Byng-Thorne will take on his duties while a search for a permanent replacementbegins
Byng-Thorne, the former boss of Future, only arrived as chairman in June.
MacLennan can take significant credit for coming to the rescue of a business that was in the mire when he got the top job three years ago.
M&C, founded by brothers Maurice and Charles, is perhaps the best-known name in UK advertising and a close confidante of the Conservative Party down the years.
It is associated with the 1978 “Labour Isn’t Working” campaign that played on fears of rising unemployment. The slogan was designed by a business then called Saatchi & Saatchi.
That led to complaints from Labour’s Denis Healey that the Tories were “selling politics like soap-powder”.
M&C was set up in 1995 by partners including MacLennan, now 61.
In 2019 M&C had to admit its own accounts weren’t working either. A review by PwC found accounting errors of towards £12 million due to errors that went back to 2014. Then chief executive David Kershaw and other executives quit.
A probe by the Financial Conduct Authority followed, as did a contentious takeover bid by tech entrepreneur Vin Murria, who had become the biggest shareholder with a 12.5%.
Then chairman Gareth Davis always said the all-share offer did not reflect the firm’s future potential. Internally, there was significant opposition to Murria’s bid, with questions about the “cultural” fit of the deal.
MacLennan was paid £1.4 million last year including a bonus of £650,000. After 28 years with the business he also holds shares worth many millions.
He will also get paid for another 12 months while on gardening leave.
MacLennan said: "It has been a rare privilege to work for three decades with people I respect and like, creating work that has had an extraordinary impact on the world. M&C Saatchi is well set for the future and now is the right time to make way for fresh energy and ideas. Thanks to all past and present, and to those in the future who I know will keep the M&C Saatchi flame burning bright."
M&C shares rose 2p to 150p.
