Pre-Close Trading Statement

RNS Number : 9311Y

Centaur Media PLC

14 July 2008

 



14th July 2008

Centaur Media plc

("Centaur" or "the Group")

PRE-CLOSE TRADING STATEMENT 

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Centaur Media plc, the specialist business publishing and information company, today issues a pre-close trading update for the year ended 30th June 2008, prior to its preliminary results announcement, scheduled for 18th September 2008.  

Overall trading performance review

Results for the year ended 30th June 2008 are anticipated to be in line with market expectations, with the Group achieving further growth in adjusted PBT (note i). This growth in profits has been driven by another year of double digit growth in online revenues, accompanied by the benefit of significant cost reductions implemented during the course of the year. We also anticipate reporting further improvement in EBITDA margins (note ii), in line with the Board's expectations.

Total revenues are expected to be in line with the prior year, reflecting more challenging conditions in the last four months of the financial year.  In particular, a reduction in print revenues was partly offset by continued strong growth in online advertising, where revenues increased by around 24% in the year.  

The Group has continued to deliver a high level of cash generation converting around 90% of ebitda into operating cash flow. Net cash balances at the end of June were £7.7m. 

Current trading and outlook 

As reported in our Interim Management Statement on 14th May 2008, market conditions have weakened during the course of 2008. The decline in our print revenues that we reported for the four months to 30th April 2008 has continued, with total print revenues for the six months to 30th June 2008 falling by about 8% on the equivalent prior year period. This decline has been led by a further contraction of the mortgage sector and tough conditions in several of our other markets.  

We anticipate that trading conditions will remain challenging during the seasonally quieter first half of the new financial year leading to further weakness in print revenues  However, revenues from events and online products are expected to deliver further growth.

We are responding to these challenging conditions by continuing to take action to reduce our cost base and in addition we continue to identify new product opportunities to further offset this period of cyclical weakness in our established print products, with the recent launch of a number of new online and event initiatives.  

The Group benefits from holding a portfolio of market-leading brands spread across a number of different market verticals and we have achieved a general strengthening of our relative market positions in recent months in a number of these verticals As a result we anticipate strong growth when markets start to recover. The Group also benefits from continued positive cash flows and a strong balance sheet which we expect will facilitate future growth plans.

Enquiries:

Centaur Media plc	Geoff Wilmot Mike Lally	Tel: [phone]
Gavin Anderson & Company	Robert Speed Janine Brewis	Tel: [phone]

Notes 

• Adjusted PBT is Profit Before Tax, excluding the impact of amortisation of intangibles and of exceptional items, including share-based payments.

• Centaur's key internal measure of profit is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and excluding exceptionals (EBITDA).  

• Centaur's product portfolio currently includes 9 weekly or fortnightly magazines, 18 other magazines, over 20 online products or services, over 30 awards or other sponsored events, 20 exhibitions and 50 conferences.

• Centaur reports its results within 5 distinct business sector segments, namely Marketing and Creative, Legal and Financial, Engineering and Construction, Perfect Information and General Business Services. The first 3 segments comprise principally the following vertical business communities in which Centaur publishes market-leading magazine titles: Marketing Services, Creative Services, New Media, Retail Financial Products, Legal Services, Engineering, Private Homebuilding. Centaur also enjoys strong positions in a number of other specialist communities, namely HR, Construction, Supply Chain and Logistics, Recruitment and Public/Private Finance. In addition, it serves the Business Travel community with 4 leading trade shows in the UK and overseas and an associated web service.

 

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