Dublin digital agency Brando has been acquired by In the Company of Huskies. The enlarged agency will have 55 staff and annual turnover estimated at €8m.

Huskies CEO Jonathan Forrest said: “We’ve been in dialogue with Brando for a long time and the circumstances are now right to take the next step in our journey to create the agency we believe is best suited to solve the contemporary brand and business problems clients face in today’s world.

“With acquisition we are increasingly an attractive option for larger clients who wish to benefit from our approach. This is just another step in our journey to transform the way brands and people communicate and become the most relevant agency in the market.”

Brando MD Darren McGrath (pictured above) added: “I’m excited Brando are joining the Huskies’ pack. There are great synergies in the experience and expertise of both agencies. We look forward to accelerating the growth of our client’s business by broadening and deepening our service offering.”

Brando was founded in 2005. Initially setup as a digital agency,  Brando  broadened its horizons into  ATL, BTL, experiential, PR, web development, brand strategy, comms planning, POS and sales collateral.

In Association with

"Over the years we’ve worked on projects right across the marketing spectrum with brands such as O2, Irish Distillers, Heineken, The AA, GloHealth, the GAA, Betfair, UPC, PhoneWatch, Rabobank and PhoneWatch,” said McGrath.

Brando’s shareholders are McGrath and Brendan O’Flaherty, who each own 50% of the equity in the operating company, Eyegen Ltd. This company booked a net profit of €6,000 in the year to March 2015. Year-end debtors amounted to €515,000, down from €707,000, while creditors also reduced year-on-year from €768,000 to €509,000 at 31 March 2015. Year-end net worth was €58,000.

AIB would appear to be helping with finance for the Brando takeover, as the bank registered a charge with In the Company of Huskies Ltd in January 2016.

The company had net current assets of €1,037,000 in December 2014, including €596,000 in cash.