Trading Update

RNS Number : 8661O

Centaur Media PLC

13 October 2021

 

Centaur Media plc

Incorporated in England and Wales

Registration number: 04948078

LEI: 2138005WK87G7DQRQI62

ISIN: GB0034291418

13 October 2021

Centaur Media Plc

("Centaur" or the "Company")

Trading Update & Capital Markets Day

Centaur Media Plc, an international provider of business information, training and specialist consultancy, is pleased to announce an update on trading for the period ended 30 September 2021 and its outlook for the full year. The Company is also hosting its 2021 Capital Markets Day today.

Trading Update

Since the publication of the Company's Interim Results on 21 July 2021, the Board is pleased to announce that Centaur has continued to experience strong trading conditions enabling it to grow its revenues and adjusted¹ EBITDA across both Xeim and The Lawyer.

Centaur's Brands continue to perform in line with its Margin Acceleration Plan (MAP23) objectives, notably:

•	Econsultancy is seeing subscriptions outperform management expectations, mainly through a sustained level of new business wins and demand for its blended learning proposition. Delivery of its training offering is on track.
•	The Marketing Week Mini MBA had another period of high double-digit growth driven by increased delegate numbers and price increases.
•	Influencer Intelligence is recovering as its new business and renewal rates are starting to rise following the significant impact of Covid on its smaller PR and fashion customers.
•	The Lawyer is ahead of target on corporate renewal rates, while billings are on track for its new Signal product, a subscription service offering in-depth strategic insight and benchmarking of markets, clients and competitors. Recruitment advertising has shown a strong recovery since 2020.

Next week, Centaur will be hosting the pinnacle in its events calendar, the Festival of Marketing: The Year Ahead. The four-day virtual event with live Q&As and video-on-demand will feature over 80 speakers, including the senior marketing leaders of several high profile brands such as Mastercard, Tesco, Coca-Cola, Diageo and Virgin, who will be joined by leading marketing academics Byron Sharp and Mark Ritson, as well as John Cleese, Eddie Izzard and Richard Curtis. The Lawyer is also hosting a number of events in Q4 including next week's hybrid In-House Counsel as Business Partner and next month's The Lawyer Awards.

Centaur's net cash balance stood at £12.4m as at 30 September 2021 (£11.9m as at 30 June 2021).

2021 Full Year Outlook

The Board expects full-year revenues to exceed £37m, a 15% year-on-year increase and at the top end of market expectations. Margins in H2 2021 continue to improve, with adjusted¹ EBITDA margin for FY 2021 expected to be approximately 15%.

Xeim, our business unit serving the marketing sector, is expected to report a year-on-year underlying revenue increase of at least 17% with The Lawyer expecting to report an underlying revenue increase of at least 7%.

The Board remains confident in the successful delivery of Centaur's revenue and EBITDA margin objectives as set out under MAP23.

Capital Markets Day

Centaur will today hold a Capital Markets Day for institutional investors and analysts. The event will be hosted by Swag Mukerji, CEO, and Simon Longfield, CFO, together with a number of the senior management team from across the Company.

The Capital Markets Day will cover Centaur's strategic progress, while providing further detail on its Flagship 4 and Core Brands and outlining the role of these brands within the Company's MAP23 strategy. 

The presentations will commence at 10:00 BST. A recording will subsequently be made available on the Company's website.

No further trading information will be disclosed during the event.

¹  Adjusted EBITDA is adjusted operating profit before depreciation and amortisation on a post-IFRS 16 basis. Adjusted results exclude adjusting items, such as exceptional items, as detailed in note 4 of the Interim Report for the period ended 30 June 2021.

Enquiries

Centaur Media Plc	020 7970 4000
Swag Mukerji, Chief Executive Officer
Simon Longfield, Chief Financial Officer
Teneo
Zoë Watt / Matthew Thomlinson	07713 157561 / 07785 528363

Note to editors

Centaur is an international provider of business information, training and specialist consultancy that inspires and enables people to excel at what they do, raising the standard for insight, interaction and impact.   Leading brands include The Lawyer, Econsultancy, Influencer Intelligence, MW Mini MBA, Marketing Week, Festival of Marketing, Creative Review, Fashion & Beauty Monitor, Oystercatchers and Really B2B.

 

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