Lighthouse to extend offering

Fitch parent Lighthouse Global Network is considering extending its offering to five core business sectors with the addition of a further two divisions. The move may eventually see the group’s design interests combined under one brand – possibly that of London consultancy Fitch.

While LGN currently operates in three areas – design and development, marketing services, and business communications – two complementary units are being considered in unnamed areas.

“It is very possible that we will adopt a fourth and fifth leg in the near future,” says LGN chief operating officer Julian Hanson-Smith. These would be in closely related areas of consultancy, he adds.

Hanson-Smith says there could be a good case for naming the LGN design and development arm after design group Fitch.

An imminent strengthening of the Fitch brand could be seen in the next six months, as it aims to globalise its work and its image.

Last week LGN branded its marketing services division under the name of its integrated marketing agency Communicator, based in Chicago and London. Whether Fitch will receive the same treatment is not yet known.

In the longer term, LGN is also planning a global promotion of the Lighthouse name, says Hanson-Smith.

“We are not yet ready to start promoting the Lighthouse name to clients worldwide. That is stage two,” he says.

He declines to comment on any plans to float Fitch or the Lighthouse group on the stock market.