Leith Agency is sold off

LEITH Agency, the Edinburgh-based advertising giant, has been sold to a London marketing services firm that plans to float on the stock exchange.

Generally reckoned to be Scotland’s biggest ad agency, Leith returned to profit last year following two years of losses after the benefits of its London office began to feed through.

The firm, which has a turnover of 10 million, can count Standard Life, Coors and Irn Bru among its high-profile campaigns.

The sale of the agency - for an undisclosed sum - emerged as Cello, a newly-formed marketing services group, unveiled plans to float on London’s junior Alternative Investment Market.

Cello is also buying Cheltenham-based marketing consultancy Target and Insight, a London-based specialist providing healthcare market research.