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Enero ends the era of Naked in the UK but backs Australian and Japan operations

The closure of Naked’s UK business just nine years after it became the flagship international acquisition of Photon Group will not have any impact on Naked’s Australian and Japanese operations, the company has said.

The loss of the Virgin Atlantic Airways account late last year has forced the closure of Naked’s UK business however the company claims the Australian and Japanese operations remain profitable.

The media strategy consultancy first founded in 2000 by Will Collin, John Harlow and Jon Wilkins, was bought by Photon (now Enero) in 2008, with Collins telling The Guardian at the time “Photon has a swashbuckling style”.

That style led to the near collapse of the group under a mountain of debt before the business was rebuilt as Enero.

The closure of London follows the decision to fold Naked in the US into another Enero division.

In a statement to Mumbrella an Enero spokesperson said it was business as usual in Australia and Japan for the brand.

“Naked’s business in Australia and its affiliate in Japan continue to perform well, and are unaffected by the changes in London and New York,” the spokesperson said.

“Likewise the changes at Naked London and New York have no impact on the other Enero Group agencies.”

Naked in the UK was left with no clients after the decision by Virgin Atlantic to take its business in-house.

In February Enero reported a 32% drop in earnings for the first six months of the year as the result of Brexit began to take a toll on the company.

The company has also been hit by the strengthening Australian dollar, but has seen growth in its US operations after a major acquisition last year – its first for a number of years.

Enero shares are currently trading at $1.00, having been as low as 81cents and as high as $1.32 over the past 52 weeks.

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