At Centaur's Annual General Meeting to be held today at 12.00pm, Chairman and Chief Executive Graham Sherren will give shareholders the following update on trading:
"I am pleased to report that Centaur has continued to deliver healthy growth in the new financial year. Total revenues in the 5 months to 30th November 2005 were around 7% ahead of the same period last year, led by further advertising revenue growth. As a result, like-for-like profitability also improved strongly in the period, in line with expectations.
Last week we announced the £4m acquisition of The Recruiter magazine, website and awards portfolio, which will form the basis of another important business community for Centaur, and we are excited about the opportunities which it presents. We have also made good progress in integrating Logistics Europe and Supply Chain Business (acquired in October 2005) with Logistics Manager (acquired February 2005). The Recruiter and Logistics Europe and Supply Chain Business acquisitions will be earnings enhancing in the current financial year.
We continue to look for new development and investment opportunities to underpin our future growth objectives. During the period, we have successfully launched two new monthly magazines, Hali Modern and Move or Improve, and organised a new event, Mortgage Strategy Summit. These have in aggregate already made a modest profit contribution, and are expected to be important additions to the portfolio.
The first half of our financial year is traditionally seasonally weaker than the second half. We have had a satisfactory start and the outlook for the rest of the financial year remains promising, in line with our expectations."
Enquiries
