Grayling Blog

The journey is just beginning

Posted on 1.02.2010 by Michael Murphy

As Grayling is launched as the second largest independent public relations, public affairs and investor relations consultancy in the world I am conscious as CEO that the journey is only beginning. A survey by KPMG shows that the proportion of M&A deals which have resulted in decreased - not increased - value for shareholders has risen by 50% since the previous survey. Over the past months since our parent company Huntsworth plc announced its intention to bring a number of group companies together as Grayling, all of my senior management have been practicing what we preach to clients in any merger process - undertake detailed research with both internal and external stakeholders, bring people with you at all levels and communicate tirelessly. So far so good. We have a new and completely unified management structure, a new positioning of which we are very happy and a fire in our bellies which makes me very proud of all of our 900 people worldwide.

However, it is only the beginning and we now need to build on what we have achieved in the past few months. Mergers of people businesses carry the highest risks and we will need to continue and accelerate that momentum. So at the end of this month we will be taking stock and asking our people and our clients how they are feeling about the changes and what we need to do better.