Commenting on the results Geoff Wilmot, Chief Executive Officer of Centaur Media plc, said: “While we report a further revenue reduction for the period the trend towards improved trading conditions has continued with positive signs of stabilisation across the Group.
This stabilisation has continued during January and February 2010 with some areas of the Group reporting year-on-year growth in those months. As a result of this increasing confidence in trading conditions the board has declared a 20% increase in interim dividend to 0.6p”
Introduction
The Group reports a revenue reduction of 24% to £23.9m (H1 FY09: £31.5m) and a loss before tax of £1.7m for the period (H1 FY09: £0.1m loss). While these results continue to reflect weakness in our served markets we have seen a steady moderation in the rate of decline over the period with a 15% revenue reduction during the final two months, against a 28% reduction during the first four months of the half year, as reported in our IMS. In addition in the three key trading months of the period – September, October and November - average revenues in a number of areas of the business were significantly improved against the final quarter (April- June) of the last financial year (“Q4 FY09”). These areas of improvement are detailed by individual division below.
The calculation of earnings per share for the period is detailed in note 10 to the financial statements. We report a basic loss per share for the period of 0.9p (H1 FY09: 0.1p loss).
The Group held net cash balances of £0.1m at 31 December 2009 (30 June 2009: £1.0m) with cash generated from operations in the period of £0.3m (H1 FY09: £2.7m) reflecting a reduction in the Group’s working capital requirements.
The trend towards improved trading conditions has continued during January and February 2010.
In view of our increasing confidence in trading conditions the Board has declared a 20% increase in the interim dividend to 0.6p per share (H1 FY09: 0.5p). The interim dividend will be paid on 31 March 2010 to shareholders on the share register at 5 March 2010.
Business overview
An analysis of the results for the period is set out at the end of this business review.
In total Group revenues decreased by 24% in the six months ended 31 December 2009 partly reflecting a 50% reduction in recruitment advertising revenues. However during the stronger trading months of September to November 2009, on average Group recruitment advertising revenues were 20% above the level reported in Q4 FY09.
Excluding recruitment, all other advertising revenues were 22% below the same period last year. A stabilisation in the rate of decline was led by web based advertising where the year-on-year revenue reduction was contained at 6% for the six month period.
Event revenues for the period of £4.8m were 27% below the same period last year although a number of events held in H1 FY09 did not repeat in this period. Excluding these events, on a like-for-like basis, event revenues were 14% below the same period last year.
The reduction in Group revenues in the period was partly mitigated by a 19% reduction in Group costs with total expenditure (on an adjusted EBITDA basis) amounting to £23.9m for the period (H1 FY09: £29.6m).
This reduction in costs of £5.7m included the effect of cost saving initiatives that were implemented part-way through the previous financial year. Further cost savings achieved in the current period included a 3% reduction in Group numbers employed since 30 June 2009..
