Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 3457W

Centaur Media PLC

17 November 2010

 



Centaur Media PLC - Interim Management Statement

Centaur Media PLC                                   

17 November 2010

Centaur Media plc

('Centaur' or 'the Group' or "the Company")

AGM UPDATE

(INCORPORATING INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT)

Centaur Media plc, the specialist business publishing and information Group, today issues an interim management statement for the period from 30 June 2010 to the date of this announcement, incorporating a trading update for the four month period to 31 October 2010. 

At the Company's annual general meeting (the "AGM") held today all resolutions were passed. Copies of the resolutions passed at the AGM (other than those concerning ordinary business at the AGM) have been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: http://www.hemscott.com/nsm.do

Overall trading performance

We are pleased to report 15% growth in Group revenues during the four month period to 31 October 2010, reflecting a continued improvement in most of our served markets, together with an increase in revenues derived from an ongoing programme of new product development.

Advertising revenue growth for the four months to the end of October of 17% was led by increased recruitment advertising, where revenues were around 35% ahead of the corresponding period a year ago. This growth was spread evenly between web and print based products, with the strongest improvements reported within the marketing and legal sectors, which collectively represented almost 90% of the Groups recruitment advertising for the period. Other advertising sales also continued to recover strongly led by financial product advertising and marketing display sales. Web based advertising performed well with revenues 33% above last year and around 30% of all advertising  fulfilled online in the four month period (FY10: 26%).

Our Event businesses had a strong start to the year where, in total, revenue for the four month period was 18% ahead year-on year. While this growth partly reflected new product launches, including two new Award evenings and a number of sponsored meeting format events, the main established event in the period, Employee Benefits Live, reported strong growth in space sales with a substantial on-site re-booking of space for next years show.

Cash flow and balance sheet

The Group continues to maintain a strong balance sheet supported by a £5m revolving credit facility in place to 2012. The Group's cash position at 31 October 2010 benefitted from strong growth in forward invoicing during this four month period and while working capital requirements are generally higher during the first half of our financial year, any short term borrowing requirements are adequately covered.

Outlook

It remains a feature of the Group that forward visibility over many of our revenue streams is low at this stage in the financial year and this is currently compounded by uncertainty about the macro economic environment facing our customers in 2011. However the Board believes that the steady recovery experienced to date will continue into 2011 and that the Group will trade in line with the Board's expectations for the current financial year.

The cost base of the Group continues to be closely managed and further cost savings will accrue in this financial year as a number of initiatives arising from the re-organisation of the Group's publishing operations are completed.

Board changes

As we reported, at the time of the preliminary results announcement in September 2010, both Graham Sherren and Tom Scruby will retire from the Board following today's AGM.

Graham Sherren is the founder of the Centaur Group and the key architect of the current product portfolio. His entrepreneurial flair and expertise has pervaded the Group over the last 29 years and is at the heart of the creative culture that is a key strength of the organisation today.

Tom Scruby has provided wise counsel and invaluable advice, drawn from a lifetime of corporate management experience, during his many years as a member of the Centaur Board.  

On behalf of all their friends at Centaur and beyond, we wish them both a happy and rewarding retirement.

Enquiries:

Centaur Media plc           Geoff Wilmot, CEO    Tel: [phone]

                                         Mike Lally, GFD

Kreab Gavin Anderson      Robert Speed           Tel: [phone]
                                           Anthony Hughes  

 

END

 

 

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