The president of Canadian menswear retailer Grafton-Fraser says his privately held company, which operates 123 stores under six banners across Canada, is considering the purchase of rival Tip Top, along with three other divisions within the troubled Dylex empire: Fairweather, Braemar and Thrifty’s.

Responding to speculation that his company might be interested in taking over its rival (see Strategy, Jan. 3, 2000), Glenn Stonehouse says Tip Top has long been eating into sales at Grafton-Fraser’s Jack Fraser chain. If the terms are right, he says, he’d like to buy the chain from Dylex, which announced late last year that it was putting the bulk of its retail assets up for sale.

‘Tip Top has been going head to head with Jack Fraser for the last 80 years, and both companies have suffered,’ he says. ‘Both companies have closed a lot of stores. The merger of both companies at this point makes a lot of sense.’

He adds that if his company was successful in taking over Tip Top, both it and Jack Fraser would continue to operate in their strongest markets, while the 30 stores that overlap would be closed or converted to another banner, such as the more upscale Grafton & Co. The company also owns George Richards Big and Tall, Mr. Big and Tall, The Suit Exchange, and Timberland.

If Stonehouse is successful, Grafton-Fraser would have to build distinct brand identities for Tip Top and Jack Fraser, says retail analyst John Torella of Toronto’s J.C. Williams Group.

‘He would have to reposition both,’ Torella says. ‘Jack Fraser has always had some inclination to move up into better quality, better look and that’s a natural thing.

Revenues were down at both WPP and IPG as both holding companies noted tariff concerns in their first-quarter earnings calls this week.

WPP, which operates Ogilvy, VML, Wavemaker and Burson, reported £3.2 billion ($5.9 billion) in first-quarter earnings – a 5% year-over-year decline that equates to a 0.7% drop in like-for-like terms.

A 0.1% revenue decline in WPP’s North American operations, attributed to a slump in project-based work, was partly offset by increases in auto, financial services and technology spending. GroupM moved higher, offset by Ogilvy declines in the region.

“While WPP is not itself directly affected by tariffs, they will impact a number of our clients as well as the broader economy,” Mark Read, the company’s CEO said in a statement.

In Friday’s earnings call, Read said WPP has yet to see significant client pullback amid the economic uncertainty.

Net new business was down slightly, according to WPP.

Read said VML and Burson saw renewed momentum in new business after a first quarter that brought in important wins including Generali Group, Heineken and Levi Strauss & Co.

He added that the acquisition of InfoSum and its integration into GroupM’s data offer accelerated its AI-driven data approach.

Media giant Interpublic Group (IPG) topped analyst estimates despite reporting an 8.5% year-over-year decline with US$2 billion in first-quarter net-revenue.

The parent company of McCann, FCB, Weber Shandwick, IPG Mediabrands and Golin, reported Thursday that its international markets group, which includes the Canadian, Middle East and African regions, grew 2.9% organically thanks to “strong growth in Canada.”

The company reported strength in media buttressed by Golin, IPG-level production and data-analytics arm Axciom.

IPG also reported “meaningful progress on the proposed acquisition by Omnicom,” a stock-for-stock transaction that would create the world’s largest ad agency.

CEO Philippe Krakowsky said client activity did not change substantially in the quarter.

He said IPG is continuing to invest in technology and moving toward greater functional optimization.