Arguile has run more than 430 media-training sessions, counselled on more than 100 real-life crises, and run 50 business-continuity simulations for clients. He has worked for half the JSE Top 40 companies, 17 national government departments; 15 Fortune 500 multinationals; and five provincial governments.

He offers industry-leading experience and expertise in training and development; issue and crisis work; strategy development; brand audits; change and transition management; policy work; website architecture; and more. He will remain as Credence Consulting's managing director, which will become a division of Meropa. He will continue to run Credence as a stand-alone entity and will also offer his services to Meropa’s clients.

Arguile said: “As one of the biggest and best PR firms in the country, Meropa offers the kind of scale, skills and back-office support that will add considerable value to a niche practice such as Credence. Meropa shares my conviction that reputation is a client’s most valuable asset, and that effective reputation management requires more than a simple ‘spray and pray’ media release solution.”

Meropa’s operations director Patrick Gearing said: “Alan is highly respected in the local PR industry. We are delighted to have him back. He bolsters our reputation and credentials, has fantastic senior contacts and is another safe pair of senior hands.”