Centaur plunges £5m into the red

Centaur Media, owner of trade rags Marketing Week and The Lawyer, as well as Econsultancy, has fallen back into the red by £5m, despite seeing a 14% growth in revenue.
The business publisher, which called the results “encouraging”, has reported that revenues for the second half of 2012 reached £30.4m but it recorded a £5m pre-tax loss.
Print revenues declined to 31%, while digital now accounts for 39% and events 29% of turnover. Last year the company bought digital business Econsultancy, in a deal which could eventually cost the business £50m. It has since folded New Media Age into the division.
Centaur chief executive Geoff Wilmot said: “We have delivered an encouraging set of results in what remain challenging market conditions, with both our recent acquisitions and the underlying business contributing to earnings growth.
“The business is now repositioned and restructured. We are maintaining momentum in improving the quality of our portfolio and remain focused on increasing margins. We have an exciting pipeline of new product development initiatives across each of our three operating divisions, which positions us well for further growth in the medium term.
“The second half of our financial year continues to account for the large majority of our earnings. Although we remain dependent on underlying revenues returning to growth in the second half, we anticipate trading will be in line with our expectations for the current financial year.”