27th Apr 2005 11:05
Reed Elsevier PLC27 April 2005 NEWS RELEASE 27 April 2005 Annual General Meetings of Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV Chairman's Statement Issued on behalf of Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV Morris Tabaksblat, Chairman of Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV, toldshareholders at the Reed Elsevier PLC meeting in London today: "We were pleased to report on a year of further good progress at Reed Elsevierin 2004. This reflected the underlying strengths of the business: leadershippositions in attractive sectors, strong brands and good portfolio/geographicspread. The business is also increasingly benefiting from the strategicinitiatives put in place in recent years: product innovation and superiority,strengthened sales and marketing, a consistent programme of investment and tightcontrol of costs and working capital." Looking at the trading performance in 2005, Mr Tabaksblat commented: "Overall trading conditions have little changed since our 2004 PreliminaryResults announcement on 17 February. We are continuing to see a generallyimproving market environment for our four businesses. Results so far this yearare in line with our expectations, and we continue to target for the yearunderlying revenue growth of at least 5% and double digit growth in adjustedearnings per share at constant currencies. The performance trends in Reed Elsevier's businesses are as follows: Elsevier has had a sound start to the year. In both Science & Technology andHealth Sciences, subscription renewals are strong, book publishing is expandingand online sales continue to grow well. The Health Sciences business isexpecting good growth from new book publishing and strong backlist sales,although, given the seasonality of the business, this will mostly be seen in thesecond half. The Elsevier business is targeting organic revenue growth atconstant currencies for the year of at least 5%. LexisNexis has started the year well. In US legal markets good demand for newcontent and online services, including electronic discovery and other workflowsolutions, is positively impacting revenue momentum. The risk managementbusiness continues to show strong growth, including recently acquired Seisint.Further to the recent announcements of unauthorised access to personalidentifying information in its risk management databases, LexisNexis has movedquickly to notify the individuals concerned and is working with customers toimprove security procedures. International growth outside the US is driven bystrong demand for new online services in legal and news and business markets.LexisNexis is targeting organic revenue growth at constant currencies for theyear of at least 5%. Harcourt Education has started the year with an encouraging response to its newpublishing programmes both in US adoption states and open territories, althoughthe majority of textbook sales are in the second half. Strong growth in the USschools market is expected this year due to the upswing in the state textbookadoption cycle and improving state budgets. The Asssesment business is seeinggood growth in state educational testing contracts. The Harcourt Educationbusiness is targeting organic revenue growth in the year of 9-10% at constantcurrencies. Reed Business is seeing continuing improvement in overall market conditionsalthough performance continues to vary by sector and geography. Online revenuesare growing strongly in the magazine and information publishing businesses andare becoming an increasingly significant proportion of overall revenues. Theexhibitions business is performing well. The first half will however beadversely affected by the cycling out of non annual shows, which will be largelycompensated by favourable cycling in the second half. Reed Business is targetingorganic revenue growth for the year of 4-5% at constant currencies. Our target of double digit growth in adjusted earnings per share at constantcurrencies applies equally under the previous accounting basis and the restatedIFRS basis adopted from the 2005 financial year. If current exchange ratesprevail, there will be an adverse translation impact on reported earnings due tothe year-on-year weakness of the US dollar. On reported revenues this effectwill be marginally exaggerated under IFRS as certain foreign currency journalsubscription revenues previously regarded as hedged under UK GAAP are deemed tobe unhedged under IAS 39. Over the last five years we have made enormous strides in executing against ourstrategy for growth. Reed Elsevier is very well placed to capitalize on theimproving environment in its markets, through the quality of the portfolio, theconsistent strategic focus, and our investment behind growth initiatives, andthis is reflected in our targets for the year and beyond." The Annual General Meeting of Reed Elsevier NV, the co-parent of Reed ElsevierGroup plc, will be held in Amsterdam tomorrow and Mr Tabaksblat, also Chairmanof Reed Elsevier NV, will make the same comments to that meeting. This announcement contains forward looking statements within the meaning ofSection 27A of the Securities Act 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of theSecurities Exchange Act 1934, as amended. These statements are subject to anumber of risks and uncertainties and actual results and events could differmaterially from those currently being anticipated as reflected in such forwardlooking statements. The terms 'expect', 'should be', 'will be', and similarexpressions identify forward looking statements. Factors which may cause futureoutcomes to differ from those foreseen in forward looking statements include,but are not limited to: general economic conditions and business conditions inReed Elsevier's markets; exchange rate fluctuations; customers' acceptance ofits products and services; the actions of competitors; legislative, fiscal andregulatory developments; changes in law and legal interpretation affecting ReedElsevier's intellectual property rights and internet communications; and theimpact of technological change. Ends For media enquiries contact:Catherine May, Reed Elsevier, tel +44 (0)20 7166 5657 Notes to Editors Reed Elsevier Group plc is a world leading publisher and information provider.It is owned equally by its two parent companies, Reed Elsevier PLC and ReedElsevier NV. The parent companies are listed on the London, Amsterdam and NewYork Stock Exchanges, under the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RUK and ENL. In 2004, Reed Elsevier made adjusted profitbefore taxation of £1,027 million/€1,510 million on turnover of £4,812 million/€7,074 million. The group employs 35,600 people, including approximately 22,000in North America. Operating in the scientific, legal, educational andbusiness-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high value and flexibleinformation solutions to professional end users, with increasing emphasis oninternet delivery. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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