11th Nov 2014 09:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - Centaur Media PLC said Tuesday that it expects to trade in line with its expectations in 2014 and expressed confidence in seeing a "much stronger" performance in its second half.
In the four months to end-October the company saw underlying revenues, adjusted to exclude its sale of Perfect Information and the phasing of its The Festival of Marketing event, rise 6%. Paid-for content revenues rose 20%, and live events returned to growth.
Advertising revenues in the period fell 7%, although slowed from an 11% decline in Centaur's first half.
Underlying deferred revenues were GBP15 million, 17% ahead of the previous year.
In its marketing portfolio revenues were up 11% as it re-launched its Marketing Week service in print, desktop and mobile formats, and launched a US version of its Fashion Monitor product. The Festival of Marketing is expect to report revenue growth of 15%.
In its Professional portfolio revenues were up 14%, and its home interest portfolio saw revenues up 8%, however its financial portfolio continue to be challenging, with revenues dropping 15%.
The company said it is continuing to benefit from its procurement and efficiency initiatives, with yearly savings of GBP1 million to be delivered in 2014 as anticipated. The restructuring of its commercial sales and marketing teams is also delivering operational improvements, Centaur said.
"We are building momentum, especially in paid-for content and live events; these are now growing faster than the decline in more traditional advertising," said Chief Executive Andria Vidler in a statement. "Trading over the last four months has been encouraging and with an improving rate of growth, the outlook for 2015 is increasingly positive."
Shares in Centaur Media are trading up 2.8% at 58.85 pence Tuesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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