Centaur issues profit warning to the City

by John Reynolds, mediaweek.co.uk 20-Feb-09, 11:09

LONDON - Centaur, the owner of trade magazine Marketing Week, has issued a profit warning to the City after it said recruitment advertising in January would be down two thirds year on year.

Centaur, which recently closed direct marketing title Precision Marketing, said trading in February has, to date, shown no signs of improvement.

The business-to-business publisher is due to report its half-year results next Thursday, 26 February, but has issued a trading statement saying: "We anticipate our performance for the year to June 2009 to be significantly below the Board's expectations."

However, the group added that "it is confident the fundamental strengths of the group remain unchanged".

The profit warning follows the closure of several titles at the group. Public Private Finance, Brand Strategy and Precision Marketing have closed.

The group has also overhauled Marketing Week, installing a new editorial team, and repositioned the title as a more features-based offering.