Citigate Lloyd Northover

The Holding Company

1988

Citigate, a leading corporate and financial communications group, is founded.

1996

It is reversed into the publicly quoted Incepta Group, valuing Citigate at £26.6m.

Citigate comprises PR, advertising and marketing communications, with branding, design and on-line communications. The group operates 50 offices worldwide, focusing on Europe, the US and Asia Pacific, employing more than 1300 people, producing a turnover of £170m. Citigate is listed on the London Stock Exchange and around 50 per cent of the equity is held by employees of the company. 1998 income £330m (Marketing magazine)

The Design Offer

1975

Lloyd Northover is founded by designers John Lloyd and Jim Northover.

1993

It is bought by Citigate.

1994

Lloyd Northover is merged with Citigate Design, forming 25-strong Lloyd Northover Citigate.

1995

Citigate South Africa is set up by merging two design acquisitions in the country.

1997

LNC buys ten-strong Los Angeles consultancy Bass Yager & Associates for £640 000.

1998

11-strong corporate design arm of Dewe Rogerson Group is subsumed into LNC when Incepta buys the financial and corporate communications and marketing agency for £24.4m. Head of Dewe Rogerson corporate design Stuart Miller becomes a director of LNC, and is later made managing director.

1999

The design business inverts its name to start with Citigate.

2000

48-strong e-business and Web design consultancy JKD Communications is merged into Incepta’s digital media arm Citigate.com after it is bought for up to £10m.

LNC is a separate profit centre, operating from a separate building. It has branding offers in London, Frankfurt, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore. 1999 UK design fee-income was £3.4m.

The Work

49 per cent corporate identity and brand consultancy

21 per cent literature

12 per cent Web/ digital media

1 per cent environment

55 per cent of income comes from clients shared with other Citigate companies

The Future

To grow aggressively in its key markets in the UK, continental Europe, the US and Asia Pacific, through a combination of organic growth and the strategic acquisition of like-minded companies.