Close-Up: Live issue - How will recession threat hit industry?

What kind of impact is the economic downturn likely to have on marcoms groups, John Tylee asks.

What troubles most marcoms company chiefs about the white-knuckle ride their share prices are currently taking is their powerlessness to influence the course of it.

Tightening their safety harnesses by keeping costs under control is all very well - indeed, it's essential. However, there are lots of other potential problems they can only hope will resolve themselves.

Will the US Federal Reserve's dramatic interest-rate cut stop the world's largest and most influential economy from imploding?

Can flaky fund managers be persuaded not to switch their investments out of marketing services companies and into what they deem to be less risky businesses? Will expansion plans be shelved as the value of company paper drops? And can clients be coaxed into holding their nerve amid all the voices warning of an imminent collapse in consumer confidence? So many questions, so few answers, lots of apprehension.

'What's happening is bound to limit what we do in terms of expansion,' David Kershaw, the M&C Saatchi chief executive, admits. 'But it's also true that clients are absorbing media which is telling them the world is closing in on them. That's the real worry.'

These concerns were already evident before the markets went haywire. The M&C share price, along with that of other groups such as Cello, Chime Communications and Creston, has been falling since the latter part of 2007. Since November, it has dropped from 150p per share to less than 110p per share.