WPP and Adam & Eve

In an article on 2 January, we erroneously stated that the founding directors of Adam & Eve "paid £1m to Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP to break their contract and go it alone".

WPP tells us, and we accept, that any payment was made only following the start of High Court proceedings by the agency, rather than to allow Adam & Eve's founders to break their contracts. Adam & Eve's statement of November 2009 makes their position clear:

"The terms of settlement are confidential, but this statement is given to apologise unreservedly since we realise that despite assurances given in June 2007, we over-stepped the mark when setting up our new agency and dealing with clients whilst still under the contractual obligations of our gardening leave. We also retained proprietary information belonging to Y&R albeit unintentionally. We acknowledge that WPP and Y&R are entitled to protect their business interests. With this settlement and apology we look forward to putting this matter behind us."