Centaur, the specialist publishing and information company, is pleased to announce that, subject to the satisfactory agreement of final terms, it will acquire the Period Living & Traditional Homes magazine and web site (PL) from EMAP Consumer Media Ltd for 1.5 million, to be paid in cash less the amount of unfulfilled subscription liabilities.
PL is a leading monthly specialist consumer magazine with a 55,337 ABC audited circulation, read by individuals with a particular interest in period homes. PL's profit before tax (after allocation of overheads) for the 12 months to 31st March 2005, the date of the last published accounts, was 0.37m. The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in the current financial year.
Graham Sherren, Chairman and Chief Executive of Centaur, said: "We are pleased to be able to add Period Living & Traditional Homes to our portfolio of specialist home-interest brands based around the leading title, Homebuilding and Renovating. We believe that there will be a number of complementary benefits to be derived from the acquisition and we look forward to investing further in PL to strengthen the magazine and to extend the brand into other media. This acquisition, as was the case with our recent acquisitions of Supply Chain Business, Logistics Europe and The Recruiter, reflects our strategy of seeking to develop market-leading positions in key communities."
It is expected that Completion of this transaction will take place on 3rd February 2006. PL staff transferring from EMAP to Centaur will be located at Centaur's London offices from that date.
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Business Description Centaur's product portfolio currently comprises 9 weekly magazines, 2 fortnightly magazines, 11 monthly magazines, 4 magazines of a quarterly or bi-monthly frequency, 2 monthly newsletters, 27 annual printed products, 19 online products or services, 25 awards or other sponsored events, 25 exhibitions and 90 conferences.
Centaur reports its results within 5 distinct business sector segments, namely Marketing and Creative, Legal and Financial, Engineering and Construction, Perfect Information and Other. The first 3 segments comprise principally the following vertical business communities in which Centaur publishes market-leading magazine titles: Marketing Services, Creative Services, New Media, Retail Financial Products, Legal Services, Engineering, Private Homebuilding. Centaur also enjoys strong positions in a number of other specialist communities, namely HR, Visual Arts Production, Construction, Antique Rugs and Textiles, Logistics, Recruitment and Public/Private Finance. In addition, it serves the Business Travel community with 3 leading trade shows in the UK and overseas Back to News
