Cordiant hit hard by £200m Lighthouse write-off

LONDON - Cordiant Communications is set to be hit hard for overpaying for its acquisition of the Lighthouse Global Network, the US PR and marketing group which it bought at the top of the market in 2000, with reports that it will have to write off as much as £200m.

Shares in the troubled company fell when the market opened this morning to trade at 77p, down 2.53% from Friday's close of 79p. It is due to post its full-year results in March.



Cordiant paid £392m for Lighthouse, which includes City PR firm Financial Dynamics and design consultancy Fitch, when it bought the group at the height of the dotcom boom in July 2000. According to reports, Lighthouse would now be valued at just £125m, hit by the downturn in advertising and marketing revenues.



Along with the estimated £200m write-off, Cordiant has also spent £25m in shedding 1,100 jobs during the year.



Analysts have forecast profits of around £30m for the year. The group warned revenues were expected to be 9% lower than in the previous year. However, since then, its share price has taken a further knock with the news last month that it lost the £212m media-buying account for Hyundai. Speculation is rife that the creative account is set to follow the media business out of the door.



The uncertainty surrounding the future of Michael Bungey, the CEO of Cordiant, has been running high with some saying that he will not last much longer.



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