Restructuring cuts losses for Centaur
CENTAUR, the B2B publishing and exhibitions business, yesterday posted improved full-year results thanks to cost-cutting but still booked a loss on writedowns and redundancy payoffs.
Revenue rose 14 per cent to £68.3m for the year to the 30 June, and adjusted EBITDA increased 50 per cent to £9.9m. But the company posted a pre-tax loss of £30.3m following a £32.2m non-cash impairment charge and exceptional costs of £3.4m relating to redundancies.
In July, Centaur announced a restructuring to streamline the business into the three divisions of business publishing, business information and exhibitions.
“The restructuring has put us in a much stronger place,” said Centaur boss Geoff Wilmot, who expects future growth to come from events such as Marketing Week Live, where revenues rose 26 per cent, and from digital products such as Perfect Information, a business tool for investment bankers and corporate lawyers.
Digital revenues rose 19 per cent to account for 26 per cent of Centaur’s total revenues.
Trade magazines New Media Age and Design Week became online-only brands as part of the cost-saving measures, while Logistics Manager, ABC&D and Process Engineering have been sold, with talks underway to find a buyer for Recruiter magazine.
But Wilmot said the publisher’s eight remaining print titles, which include The Lawyer and Marketing Week, will remain print brands “as long as there is a demand for paper products as part of a wider portfolio of other media”.