Havas London's Andrew Robinson in switch to Newgate

Robinson had been at Havas London (which recently rebranded from Euro RSCG) for the past six years, managing corporate clients in the UK and internationally.

It is thought Robinson has been tasked with helping the agency expand its international footprint. Newgate currently has wholly owned offices in London, Edinburgh, Brussels and Frankfurt.

Robinson commented: ‘My time at Havas was very rewarding, but Newgate is my big opportunity to be at the start of building a powerful force in international comms.’

By joining Newgate, Robinson joins a growing band of former senior Citigate Dewe Rogerson executives at the agency, launched by Citigate founder David Wright and headed by former Citigate CEO Jonathan Clare.

Robinson was at Citigate for five years from 1999 and has also worked at College Hill and Gavin Anderson. Already at Newgate are former Citigate corporate MD Deborah Saw and public policy chief Simon Nayyar.

Clare added: ‘Andrew’s insight as a senior practitioner and his cross-border client experience at Havas will be of immense value to both Newgate and our clients as we continue to expand our international network and offering.’

Havas UK MD Steve Marinker told PRWeek he was in the process of assessing the agency’s structure and that plans for its corporate division were yet to be finalised following Robinson’s departure. However, he added that he was looking to more closely integrate consumer and corporate work at the agency.

Newgate is owned by Porta Communications, the marcoms vehicle established by Wright in 2010. Last month, the AIM-listed group announced it had grown quickly to achieve revenues of £1.69m in the first half of 2012, but that figure translated to a first-half loss of £1.15m.

This article was first published on prweek.com