Acquisition & year end trading statement

RNS Number : 4808H

Centaur Media PLC

12 July 2012

Centaur Media PLC

Completion of acquisition and year-end trading statement

Centaur Media plc (LSE: CAU, the "Group"), the business information and events group, has completed the recently announced acquisition of Econsultancy.com Ltd (Econsultancy) and issues a trading statement for the year ended 30 June 2012.

The Group expects to report profits in line with the Board's expectations with underlying* revenues 2% ahead of the prior year and EBITDA margins increased from 14% to 18%.

Trading in the last two months of the year has been in line with expectations. Digital revenues continue to show strong underlying growth rates and now account for 30% of overall revenues compared with 26% last year. Events revenues also continue to show good underlying growth rates, with Marketing Week Live reporting revenues 23% ahead of last year.

Cash flow in the final two months of the year has been strong with net debt at 30 June lower than anticipated at £7.2m, and with leverage at approximately 0.6 times EBITDA.

Deferred revenues of approximately £11m are 20% ahead of the same period last year.

Geoff Wilmot, Chief Executive, commented:

"FY12 has been a significant year of change for Centaur, culminating in the recently completed acquisition of Econsultancy. Our revenue mix has improved significantly, with a notable increase in the proportion of digital revenues. At the same time, we have delivered underlying revenue growth despite difficult trading conditions and have secured a significant improvement in margins. We look forward to building on this performance in FY13 and delivering the full benefits of our recent acquisitions."

The Group expects to release its full year results on 13 September 2012.

Enquiries

Centaur Media plc	+44 (0) 20 7970 4000
Geoff Wilmot, Chief Executive
Mark Kerswell, Finance Director

College Hill	+44 (0) 20 7457 2020
Adrian Duffield / Kay Larsen