Centaur profits wiped out as revenue drops by almost £8m

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 27-Feb-09, 09:05

LONDON - B2B publisher Centaur Media has reported a pre-tax loss of £100,000 for the second half of 2008 as revenues fell by almost £8m, prompting the publisher to cut costs by up to £12m over the next two years.

Revenue fell 19% year on year from £39.1m in the last six months of 2007 to £31.5m during the same period in 2008.

Centaur's pre-tax loss of £100,000 was down from a pre-tax profit of £2.8m during the same period in 2007.

The publisher released a set of adjusted earnings, which revealed an adjusted pre-tax profit of £700,000 during the last six months of 2008, down 86% on the same period in 2007 when adjusted pre-tax profits hit £5m. The adjusted pre-tax profit excludes the impact of amortisation of acquired intangibles and exceptional items.

Ad revenue decreased by 23% in the period with the sharpest reduction reported within recruitment advertising with a year on year decrease of 30%.

Centaur said this fall largely relates to print based recruitment advertising while online sales were flat across the period.

The publisher has implemented a cost cutting programme in response to the extreme market weakness, which includes a 15% reduction of staff.

Geoff Wilmot, chief executive officer of Centaur Media, said: "These results reflect the extreme challenges faced by our markets during the period. We have responded with a progressive and radical programme of cost reductions.

"This will contribute towards cost savings of approximately £10m in the current financial year and a further £2m next year. Meanwhile, we have seen no material change in our market-leading positions during the period and we remain confident of the group's prospects when markets recover."

Titles published by Centaur include Marketing Week, Money Marketing, The Lawyer, Design Week, New Media Age, Fund Strategy and Mortgage Strategy.