Tarsus Group – results for the six months ended 30 June 2012

July 26, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Tarsus Group plc, the business-to-business media group, has announced its results for the six months ended 30 June 2012.

Financial highlights

  • Like-for-like revenue up 14% on 2011 as adjusted for biennials
  • Interim dividend up 5% to 2.2p (2011: 2.1p)
  • Net debt £19.6 million (2011: £17.3 million)
  • Forward bookings currently stand at 80% of anticipated full year revenues (2011: 74%)
  • Heads of terms agreed for new five year £45m bank facility

 M&A News

  • Life Media (Turkey) acquisition completed in March 2012
  • Acquisition of GZ Auto (China) expected to complete in the next few months

Douglas Emslie, Group Managing Director, said, “Our significant progress in the first half has been driven by excellent performances in the US from our Medical and Off Price products and in the Emerging Markets by very strong growth in the Turkish and Chinese businesses. Turkey is now a key component in our portfolio as a result of our acquisitions of Life Media and IFO.

Our position in China will be significantly enhanced with the addition of GZ Auto, the leading automotive aftermarket show. With our 2012 forward bookings currently standing at 80% and the strong performance in the first half, we have increased the interim dividend by 5%.

We are increasingly confident that our quality portfolio addressing high growth sectors and markets in transition together with our focus on driving visitors and growing exhibition volumes will quicken the pace of our future earnings and dividend growth”.

UK, London

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Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC – Interim Management Statement for the period from April 1 to July 24, 2012.

July 26, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the international publishing, events and electronic information group, has announced its Interim Management Statement for the period from April 1 to July 24, 2012.

Highlights

  • Total revenues for the quarter to June 30, 2012 increased by 9% to £111.0 million, driven by continued growth from the group’s research and data businesses.  Underlying group revenues, excluding the impact of last year’s acquisition of Ned Davis Research, increased by 3% (and by 1% at constant exchange rates).
  • Underlying subscription revenues increased by 6% (and by 5% at constant exchange rates). Subscription growth continues to be generated by the group’s premium electronic information services such as BCA Research, the independent macro economic research house, and CEIC Data, the emerging markets data provider. Headline subscription revenues, including NDR, increased by 21%.  Advertising revenues followed a similar trend to the second quarter – advertising from global financial institutions remained weak but this was offset by growth from the energy sector and emerging markets.
  • The third quarter is the most important of the year for the event businesses, with many of the group’s largest events held during this period.  While the bigger events put in a robust performance, markets became more challenging as the quarter progressed, particularly for smaller events.  As a result, sponsorship revenues for the quarter fell by 7% while delegate revenues remained steady.
  • The group generates nearly two thirds of its revenues in US dollars and movements in the sterling-dollar rate can have a significant impact on reported revenues.  However, the average sterling-dollar rate for the third quarter was $1.60, against $1.64 a year ago, and the impact of exchange rates on revenues in the third quarter was not significant.

The following table summarises the year-on-year revenue changes for the third quarter at both headline rates and at constant exchange rates:

 

Financial Position

Net debt at June 30 was £51.3 million, a reduction of £37.2 million since March 31, reflecting the group’s strong operating cash flows in the period.  The third quarter is traditionally the strongest of the year because of the importance of the cash flows of the event businesses.  In addition there were no significant non-operating cash flows in the period and movements in the US dollar exchange rate had no significant effect on net debt levels.

UK, London

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Informa plc – Half Year Results

July 26, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Informa has announced its half year results for the Six Months Ended 30 June 2012

Financial Highlights

  • Adjusted operating profit growth of 0.6% to £160.1m; 0.3% on an organic basis
  • Improved margin – adjusted operating margin 25.8% (H1 2011: 25.1%)
  • Strong cash flow – cash conversion rate increased to 76% (H1 2011: 56%)
  • Revenue decline of 2.4% (organic decline of 1.2%) – proactive reduction in marginal product.
  • Statutory loss before tax of £27.4m (H1 2011: £66.5m profit) – reflecting impairment charge of £80.0m and losses on disposal of £24.4m relating to European Conference businesses.
  • Earnings increased – adjusted diluted earnings per share growth of 3.4% to 18.3p (H1 2011: 17.7p)
  • Dividend increased – interim dividend increased to 6.0p (H1 2011: 5.0p)
  • Net debt/EBITDA ratio of 2.3 times (H1 2011: 2.5 times)

Operational Highlights 

  • Academic – organic revenue growth of 3.7%
  • Total cost savings delivered at PCI of £12m
  • 9 new large events run in H1
  • Forward bookings on leading events remains strong
  • Restructure of conference portfolio to reflect prevailing market conditions in Europe
  • 20% of revenue from emerging markets (H1 2011: 19%)

 

 

 

 

Commenting on the first half results and future prospects, Peter Rigby, Chief Executive, said, “Overall, we have made a solid start to the year and are pleased with our performance to date. With our flat structure, experienced local management and focus on operating profit we continue to deliver good financial performance and earnings growth. In addition, high cash flow conversion continues to support our progressive dividend policy. Global economic conditions show no signs of sustained improvement. We have become used to operating in this environment and are actively managing the portfolio to concentrate on our areas of strategic focus. The business is in better shape as a result and we are well positioned for growth when an economic recovery occurs.  We are encouraged by the product launches coming in the second half of the year as well as our recent Canadian acquisition. We are making good progress on a number of growth initiatives including geographic expansion, across Informa which gives the Board confidence in meeting its expectations for the full year and the Group’s future prospects.”

UK, London

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DMGT – Q3 results

July 26, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

DMGT has announced results for the third quarter of their financial year to 1st July 2012 .

Highlights

  • Revenue for the third quarter of £509 million, up 3% on last year on a reported basis and up 4% on an underlying basis
  • Continued good underlying growth from our B2B businesses
  • Return to underlying growth at Associated Newspapers
  • Net debt reduced by £9 million to £800 million
  • Outlook for the year remains unchanged

Business to Business (B2B) – third quarter performance

RMS reported revenues were £42 million, with continued growth driven by core modelling performance as well as new product areas. The difference between underlying and reported revenue growth rates reflects the sale of RMSI in the fourth quarter of the prior year.

The reported revenues of dmg information grew strongly to £63 million, driven by Education (Hobsons) and Property (Landmark and EDR) businesses.

dmg events’ reported revenues increased to £29 million, reflecting a strong performance from the biennnial Global Petroleum Show in June.

Continued good performance from Euromoney Institutional Investor, with reported revenues of £111 million.

Consumer – third quarter performance  

Associated: reported revenues were £210 million, with circulation revenues up 4% and continued market share improvement (Daily Mail 21.6% compared to 21.0% last year and The Mail on Sunday 20.1% compared to 19.8% last year)*. Total underlying advertising revenues were up 2%; comprising newspapers down 5%, newspaper websites (mainly Mail Online) up 69% (when combined these two revenue streams were broadly in line with last year), and other digital advertising (primarily Evenbase) up 15%. For the first three weeks of July, total underlying advertising revenues were 3% ahead of last year.

Headcount reduced by a further 105 (3%) during the quarter to 3,809, 533 (12%) lower than at the start of the financial year.

Northcliffe: reported revenues were £54 million, with circulation revenues up 2% on an underlying basis, reflecting the benefit of recent cover price increases.  Total underlying advertising revenues were down 7% in a difficult market.  There is a continued focus on efficiency with costs reduced by 14%. For the first three weeks of July, total underlying advertising revenues were 7% below last year.

Headcount reduced by a further 86 (4%) during the quarter to 2,280, 251 (10%) lower than at the start of the financial year.

Net debt / financing

Net debt at 1st July, 2012 was £800 million, down from £809 million at 1st April, 2012.  The Group continues to generate strong cash flows and these were primarily used to fund further acquisitions in the quarter.  Acquisitions have now used £82 million of cash year to date (notably Jobrapido, Intelliworks, Xcelligent, Global Grain and Euromoney shares) with proceeds from disposals totalling £16 million year to date (notably the final instalment from the GLM disposal).  Further debt reduction is expected in the fourth quarter.

UK, London

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Berkery Noyes releases first half 2012 M&A Report for the Media and Marketing Industry

July 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Berkery Noyes, an independent mid-market investment bank, has released its first half 2012 mergers and acquisitions trend report for the Media and Marketing Industry.

The report analyzes merger and acquisition activity in the Media and Marketing Industry for the first half of 2012 and compares it with activity in the four previous six-month periods from 2010 to 2011.

Total transaction volume increased six percent during the last six months, from 784 transactions in second half 2011 to 834 in first half 2012. Meanwhile, total transaction value increased 27 percent, from $24.88 billion to $31.51 billion. Despite this uptick, median enterprise multiples in the industry decreased. The median revenue multiple fell from 1.8x to 1.2x and the median EBITDA multiple declined from 10.0x to 7.8x. However, three segments had median revenue multiples of at least 2.0x: B2B Publishing, Broadcasting, and Exhibitions, Conferences, and Seminars.

Marketing was the most active industry segment for first half 2012, accounting for 262 transactions and surpassing Internet Media in transaction volume during the last twelve months. Although Internet Media activity declined two percent compared to second half 2011, it remained 19 percent above its second half 2010 levels. In the Marketing segment, 47 percent of deals were Digital Marketing transactions, which represented a 10 percent improvement on a half-to-half year basis. WPP Group was the largest acquirer in the Digital Marketing sub-segment as well as the overall Media and Marketing Industry.

The segment with the largest rise in volume in first half 2012 was Exhibitions, Conferences, and Seminars with an 85 percent increase. The median revenue multiple in the segment also increased 26 percent relative to first half 2011, from 1.9x to 2.4x.

Consumer Publishing M&A rose 13 percent, improving for the third consecutive half year period. The segment was led in first half 2012 by Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisitions of Waco Tribune Herald, The Bryan College Station Eagle, and 63 daily newspapers from Media General. In addition, the B2B segment was responsible for three of the top nine deals by value and underwent a 10 percent increase in transaction volume.

M&A volume in the Entertainment segment increased for the fourth straight half year, growing 24 percent in first half 2012. The largest related transaction in first half 2012 was Lionsgate’s acquisition of Summit Entertainment for $700 million. Video games, a sub-classification of Entertainment, rose 30 percent in first half 2012 and accounted for 62 percent of the segment’s deals. There was also a 50 percent increase in social gaming transactions during the last six months. The most notable social gaming deal by value was GREE International’s announced acquisition of Funzio, a mobile game developer, for $210 million.

“As we predicted in the press release for our first quarter report, there has been an impressive increase in M&A pertaining to social gaming,” said Evan Klein, Managing Director at Berkery Noyes. “Of the many possible means of monetizing social games, enticing users to purchase virtual currency and other rewards continues to be the most lucrative model for generating revenue.”

A copy of the FIRST HALF 2012 MEDIA AND MARKETING INDUSTRY M&A REPORT is available here.

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Centaur Media year-end trading statement

July 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Centaur Media plc, the business information and events group, has issued a trading statement for the year ended 30 June 2012.

The Group expects to report profits in line with the Board’s expectations with underlying revenues 2% ahead of the prior year and EBITDA margins increased from 14% to 18%.

Trading in the last two months of the year has been in line with expectations. Digital revenues continue to show strong underlying growth rates and now account for 30% of overall revenues compared with 26% last year.  Events revenues also continue to show good underlying growth rates, with Marketing Week Live reporting revenues 23% ahead of last year.

Cash flow in the final two months of the year has been strong with net debt at 30 June lower than anticipated at £7.2m, and with leverage at approximately 0.6 times EBITDA.

Deferred revenues of approximately £11m are 20% ahead of the same period last year.

Geoff Wilmot, Chief Executive, commented, “FY12 has been a significant year of change for Centaur, culminating in the recently completed acquisition of Econsultancy. Our revenue mix has improved significantly, with a notable increase in the proportion of digital revenues. At the same time, we have delivered underlying revenue growth despite difficult trading conditions and have secured a significant improvement in margins. We look forward to building on this performance in FY13 and delivering the full benefits of our recent acquisitions.”

The Group expects to release its full year results on 13 September 2012.

UK, London

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Argus Media acquires DeWitt & Company

July 15, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus Media has acquired DeWitt & Company, a provider of market assessments and business intelligence to the petrochemical industries. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

DeWitt provides valuable and unique intelligence on the global petrochemicals markets. DeWitt’s reports cover global trade and pricing for aromatics, olefins, butadiene, methanol, MTBE, hydrocarbon resins and other petrochemicals. Founded in 1973, DeWitt publishes nearly 200 price references, which are widely used for benchmark pricing and analytical purposes. DeWitt also performs bespoke consulting services and publishes multi-client studies.

Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: “We are delighted to welcome DeWitt to Argus. DeWitt is a well known and respected brand within the petrochemicals sector and is a natural complement to Argus’ existing strength in crude oil, refined petroleum products and LPG. DeWitt has an excellent reputation for providing intelligent insight and detailed analysis to its impressive range of customers. We look forward to working with DeWitt to develop our combined product offering further.”

DeWitt senior vice president Edgar Acosta said: “We are very pleased to be joining Argus and benefiting from Argus’ international reach and wide product range. We will be able to offer enhanced services to our customers and we will be developing new products together to meet the needs of our combined customer base.”

UK, London and USA, Houston

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A Fusion Deal: Econsultancy sold to Centaur

July 10, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Fusion Corporate Partners are pleased to announce our latest deal, the sale of Econsultancy.com Limited to business information and events group Centaur Media plc.

Econsultancy is a leading digital and events-led information provider to the global digital marketing and e-commerce community in the UK, with a growing presence in the USA, Middle East, Asia and Australia. Econsultancy’s revenues stem from subscriptions, events, training, professional qualifications and media. The company has approximately 110,000 registered users and approximately 5,000 subscribers.

Centaur are paying an initial consideration of £12m in cash, with deferred consideration of up to £38m due in 2016, based on EBITDA performance for the year ending December 2015.

Econsultancy was founded in 1999. In the financial year to 31 December 2011, Econsultancy reported revenues of £6.6m (representing an increase of 50 per cent. on the prior period) and adjusted EBITDA of £1.1m. Econsultancy’s CEO and key executives will remain with the business following the acquisition

The acquisition is a key part of the strategy to transform the Centaur Group into a predominantly digital and events-led business. The deal complements Centaur’s market-leading publications, events and digital services in the marketing, design and creative sectors.

Geoff Wilmot, Centaur Chief Executive, said, “The earnings enhancing acquisition of Econsultancy provides us with an exciting opportunity to acquire a leading information brand in a high growth sector with global potential which fits well with Centaur products including Marketing Week and New Media Age. Econsultancy is highly complementary with Centaur and gives us a prominent position in the rapidly growing digital marketing sector with the opportunity to scale internationally. We see considerable potential for collaborative growth through leveraging our existing position in marketing and the development of high value, paid-for information services.”

Paul Slight, Director at Fusion, said, “We were delighted to work with the team at Econsultancy. The company has become the leading source of independent advice and insight on digital marketing and ecommerce. It will be an excellent fit with Centaur products.”

UK, London

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OTHER FUSION DEALS:

Media and Information

Business Services
Events, Broadcast and Other deals
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Wilmington Group acquires Millennium ADMP

May 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Wilmington Group Plc, the professional information and training group, has aquired the business and certain assets of Millennium ADMP Ltd which is in administrative receivership (the “Business”), for a cash consideration of £465,000.

The Business was acquired by Wilmington Millennium Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wilmington formed for the purpose of making the acquisition. Wilmington will fund the consideration from existing debt facilities.

The Business provides information and services to the insurance market and provides data and sales services to Smee & Ford Ltd another wholly owned Wilmington subsidiary. During the year ended 30 June 2011, the Business made profits before interest, tax and amortisation of £0.4 million on turnover of £5.9 million. The Business has gross assets of approximately £0.9 million.

Charles Brady, CEO of Wilmington, commented “We are pleased to have been able to rescue one of our trading partners and secure the continuing employment of their staff. For Wilmington the acquisition represents an opportunity not only to secure the continued support for the activities of Smee & Ford but to benefit from the services which Millennium provides to a number of major insurance companies”.

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UK, London

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Decision Resources Group Acquires Pinsonault

April 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Decision Resources Group, a research and advisory firms focusing on healthcare insights and analysis, has acquired Pinsonault, a provider of markets-specific business and training solutions to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. The acquisition will result in a significant expansion of Decision Resources Group’s Market Access Business Unit which currently includes Fingertip Formulary, HealthLeaders-InterStudy and PharmaStrat.

Jim Lang, who was appointed President of the Market Access Business Unit at Decision Resources Group in January of 2012, will head up the integration of the Pinsonault brand.

Regarding the purchase, Mr. Lang said, “This acquisition is another example of how Decision Resources Group is bringing together the best-in-class brands in a way that allows our clients to leverage these premier offerings to suit their unique business needs. Pinsonault’s renowned reputation for quality and customer service makes it a brand we are excited to see added to our portfolio.”

Pinsonault will remain headquartered in Mt. Olive, NJ.

USA, Burlington, MA. & Mt. Olive, NJ

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