Last Act for Opera?

Norwich, UK-based MR agency Opera Group is insolvent and has reportedly failed to find a solution to its debts after meetings with company rescue specialists this week. The company has apparently struggled to recover from the expense of an ill-timed office launch in Cambridge in 2004.

The Cambridge launch was part responsible for a loss of £100,000 last year. The firm restructured its debt earlier this year by means of a creditors' voluntary agreement (CVA) but has remained in a weak position. A report in yesterday's Norfolk Eastern Daily Press said that the non-payment of a £30,000 invoice for a contract that completed in May, along with the withdrawal of business by another client, has proved the final straw.

Opera has nineteen staff and is based at Keswick Hall, just south of Norwich. Its Head of Research Martyn Richards won two major MRS conference awards last year.

Chairman Steven Colling, who founded the business in 1993, said that but for the actions of the two clients, it might have been possible to work through the difficulties. Colling launched a second agency, Onearth, last month, claimed as the first to specialise in working with organisations committed to creating a more sustainable future. Launched on World Environment Day, the new firm shares premises with Opera.

Onearth's web site is at www.onearth.eu and Opera Group's at www.operagroup.info .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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