Cobalt buys Jenkins Group from receiver

The Jenkins Group has been bought out of receivership for an undisclosed sum by Cobalt, the brand communications consultancy it merged with last autumn (DW 17 October 1997).

The Jenkins Group was suffering from “a long-term problem of massive debt incurred in the late 1980s”, says chairman Nick

Jenkins. “We thought the merger would sort it out by rationalising management systems but the debt just would not go away,” he adds.

Cobalt will now provide the management for The Jenkins Group, “which is an enormous relief to me”, says Jenkins. He is now freed up to get back to designing and chairing events.

“We are going to inject our energy and vision to help The Jenkins Group grow… We plan to make it self-funding,” says Cobalt managing director Anthony Ellis.

Two of Jenkins’ 17 staff lost their jobs through the restructure: accounts manager Pam Cuthbert and Jenny Jenkins, who worked on accounts and market research.