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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Progressive Digital Media Group Plc – interim report for the six months ended 30 June 2012

July 26, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Progressive Digital Media Group, a content driven media company producing premium business information, has announced it results for the six months ended 30 June 2012.

Highlights

  • Adjusted EBITDA(note 1) increased by 10.3% to £4.3m (2011: £3.9m)
  • Adjusted EBITDA Margin (note 1) increased to 16.6% (2011: 15.5%)
  • Group revenue increased by 2.8% to £25.9m (2011: £25.2m) with Business Intelligence revenues up by 12.5% to £13.5m (2011: £12.0m)
  • Business Intelligence revenues account for 52.1% of Group revenue (2011: 47.6%)
    • Business Intelligence at +12.5%
    • Events and Marketing at -5.3%
  • Reported profit before tax of £2.0m (2011: £1.2m)
  • Successful completion of a £20m share placing to fund acquisitions.
  • Acquisition of Kable, one of the UK’s leading providers of technology expenditure intelligence. Kable provides business information, tactical intelligence, research, analysis and consultancy to a number of the UK’s leading blue chip companies. See the DigiNet article on the Kable acquisition.
  • Exit from the consumer email marketing sector.
  • Full year results likely to be in line with market estimates.

Mike Danson, Chairman of Progressive Digital Media Group Plc, commented, “Our first half results demonstrate that we have made good progress across a number of key metrics delivering increased revenues, margin and earnings against the prior year comparatives. We continue to focus on those areas which present the best opportunities for growth such as Business Intelligence, which pleasingly now accounts for over half of Group revenues.  Our results, together with the fundraising and acquisition of Kable form not only a good platform for future growth but also have allowed the Group to exit from the less profitable consumer email marketing sector.  Moreover, the launch of the new intelligence centres and the performance of our Business Intelligence division as a whole have positioned us well to develop the business rapidly from now on.”

Note 1: Adjusted EBITDA: Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, impairment, and share based payments, and adjusted for costs associated with derivatives, acquisitions, integration and restructure of the Group. Adjusted EBITDA Margin is defined as Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of Revenue.

Note 2:  EBITDA: Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and impairment. Includes a charge of £0.5 million for share based payments (2011: £0.4 million).

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WorldOne acquires Sermo – an online community of U.S. physicians

July 23, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Healthcare insights and intelligence company WorldOne has acquired Sermo, an online community of U.S. physicians. In the six years since its launch, Sermo amassed a membership of 130,000 physicians and hundreds of clients, including eight of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world.

With the acquisition of Sermo and its leading discussion and crowdsourcing platform for physicians, WorldOne considerably expands its interactive and digital engagement capabilities. WorldOne already boasts a global network of 1.7 million healthcare professionals, including over 1 million verified physicians across 80 countries; adding Sermo’s membership will further increase reach, allow for unprecedented client list match rates, expand research opportunities, and serve as a catalyst for increased physician discussion, insights and collaboration.

“Sermo fits in perfectly with our strategy to extend our digital footprint across healthcare market research and enhance our growing portfolio of innovative engagement solutions,” said Peter Kirk, CEO of WorldOne. “Sermo has proven that sustaining an active, engaged community can result in higher interest in and response to market research as well as new promotional opportunities. Combining Sermo’s technology and social media expertise with WorldOne’s global scale enables us to rapidly accelerate our growth while offering the most enriching, collaborative online environment for physicians anywhere in the world.”

USa, New York, NY & Cambridge, MA

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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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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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CRISIL acquires Coalition Development

July 10, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., a division of Standard & Poor’s has acquired Coalition Development, a privately-held U.K. analytics company, and its subsidiaries. Coalition provides high-end analytics to leading global investment banks and other financial services firms. Coalition will be part of CRISIL’s Global Research & Analytics business.

“This acquisition reflects our commitment to helping customers succeed in the knowledge economy and also our strategic focus on high-growth businesses,” said Harold McGraw III, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of McGraw-Hill. “CRISIL is a leading provider of research and analytics services to the world’s top financial institutions and corporations. The acquisition of Coalition will expand CRISIL’s presence in the fast-growing high-end analytical space to reach more global customers and markets. CRISIL already operates in research centers located in Argentina, China, India and Poland.”

Coalition provides high-end analytics, mainly to leading global investment banks. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in the U.K. Coalition deploys unique proprietary analytics and algorithms covering market size, revenue dynamics and human capital. Coalition’s analytics provide a clear, actionable picture of the markets and are used by boards, strategy teams and top management at leading investment banks.

Coalition Development Limited were advised by Osborne Clarke. Mike Turner led the transaction assisted by Thomas Colmer and Mathias Loertscher and Prashant Mara and Ranjini Ghose of OC’s India desk.  Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, led by Linda Giunta Michaelson, provided US assistance.

UK, London and India, Mumbai

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Penton Media acquires Highline

June 27, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

B2B media company Penton Media has acquired Highline LP.  Formed in 1992, HighLine provides airport, ground handling, fuel and services information to the aviation industry. Since 1998, HighLine has collaborated with Penton’s AC-U-KWIK, the FBO directory serving the business aviation market as well as other new products. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The Highline/AC-U-KWIK relationship goes back many years and we are pleased to be able to integrate the two businesses and develop even more robust digital products,” said David Kieselstein, CEO of Penton Media.  “We welcome Gillian and Alain George, the founders of Highline, and their team to Penton.”

Gillian and Alain George, will become directors of the group.

USA, New York, NY & UK, Ascot, Berkshire

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Thomson Reuters acquires Zawya from Saffar

June 27, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Thomson Reuters, has acquired Zawya Limited, an online service supplying profiles of companies in in the Middle East and North Africa,  along with real-time news and research, and an online network for professionals. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Zawya was bought from Saffar, a MENA focused financial services and investment group.

Arma Partners acted as exclusive financial adviser to Saffar, and SNR Denton and Maples & Calder acted as legal advisers to Saffar on the sale of Zawya.

UAE, Dubai

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WPP plc to acquire 87% of Press Index S.A

June 14, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP plc  the global communications services group, and Press Index S.A., a media intelligence and monitoring business, announced today exclusive negotiations for the acquisition by WPP of shares representing 87% of the outstanding shares of Press Index from its founders as well as other sellers.

Provided this transaction completes, the purchaser would initiate an all-cash simplified tender offer (followed as the case may be by a squeeze-out procedure) to acquire the remaining outstanding shares of Press Index, in accordance with the General Regulation of the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers.

The price per share would be €6.81 in cash. This price would currently value Press Index at approximately €11.2 million total equity value.

UK, London & France, Paris

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