WPP adds Heath Wallace to its stable

WPP has acquired Reading-based Web design and development consultancy Heath Wallace.

The deal will give WPP 75 per cent of the nominal share value of Heath Wallace, whose predominantly financial services client base includes HSBC, Royal Bank Scotland, ABN Amro and Allied Irish Bank.

Heath Wallace employs about 60 staff across its Reading and Hong Kong offices.

Its Hong Kong office, which opened just last year, serves the Asia Pacific region, and the consultancy is recruiting additional staff.

Heath Wallace’s annual turnover at the end of 2007 reached £4.3m, while gross assets for the same period stood at £3.1m.

Heath Wallace managing director Dave Wallace says, ‘I’m still very much leading the charge, but what this [deal] will enable us to do is grow globally. We’ve got clients in every continent and hope to open a US office next year.’

Heathe Wallace’s main competitors, according to Wallace, are Dare, LBI and Agency.

According to WPP, the acquisition is part of its ‘strategy of developing its networks in fast-growing sectors and markets and strengthening its capabilities in digital media’.