20 March 2007

More on the Lewis expansion plans...

This has just winged its way into our inbox in response to our post about Lewis earlier today...it's from someone who knows plenty about building a global PR business:

"Doubling the number of offices will not be easy and should cost a lot more than his estimated $2m. At $2m that means each office would only cost $100k. Can’t see him building much of a presence at that price. Whether he can actually grow this fast will largely come down to how good his regional infrastructure is. If he has good people in the three regions they can each add a few offices. Six or seven per region will be very tough though. And it will mean Lewis making a loss as it will be hard to start so many offices and not lose money in most of them. My guess is that this pronouncement is a sign he’s bulking up for the big sell off…"

Could this be true..? Are we soon to see a big For Sale sign erected outside Millbank Tower..? Watch this space...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Surely adding a whole load of loss-making offices is not the ideal way to prepare your business for a trade sale..?

....the world's leading.... said...

Unless you really do set up the offices on the cheap...couple of people, serviced office and bingo! Global network. Or perhaps just the plans to set them up as a "response to major growth in all regions" - as Lewis said in its announcement - is enough to attract attention?

Anonymous said...

If this exapansion is anything like the original expansion plans it will be one person in the country who is actually a freelancer - paid loads to say they are the "local office" - my guess is this isn't a real expansion but a load of old puff that chris is spouting again to get interest in a network that is never gonna compete with the big guys... chris you can dream...you better get back to over promising clients, over working the staff on 14 hr days with status report after staus report that don't actually do anything for the client but waste time...the lewis expansion is gonna take a lot of time!

Anonymous said...

One of the main engines for Lewis is international business from the US. One person in a market can service this to start with and then grow the team, or not, in line with revenue. The amount of money per country will surely vary according to the size of market or the amount of business they believe to be already lined up.
The level of investment might be 'up-to' in the sense that this is what they are prepared to commit depending on how it goes.
It wouldn't be surprising to find a few tech agencies being prepped for a sale given where we are in the cycle and the memories of recession still fresh.

Anonymous said...

What a sad bunch you are. Envy of the success of others is such a nasty trait.

....the world's leading.... said...

Thanks!