Regulatory crackdowns and fines might be aimed at banks, but Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) has been caught in the crossfire. The financial publishing and events group earns about half of its revenues from investment bankers, whose uncharacteristic frugality was to blame for a 2 per cent decline in full-year operating profit to £104m.
Nevertheless, sales rose 3 per cent, stripping out currency impacts, acquisitions and disposals. That was driven by a 9 per cent increase in revenues from conferences and seminars to £106m, reflecting new finance events in the US and strong sponsorship sales.
Euromoney's strategy is to invest in events and digital products while paring down its print operations. For instance, its new Delphi content platform will support upcoming products such as BCA Edge, a comprehensive online research service. But that's just the "tip of the iceberg," says finance director Colin Jones. He expects most of the company's titles to be digital-only by the end of 2016.
The Metal Bulletin publisher chased growth by acquiring Mining Indaba, the largest emerging-market mining event, which it expects to contribute £5m in full-year operating profit. It also bought Infrastructure Journal and incorporated it into a leading website for infrastructure news, data and analysis.
Broker Investec expects full-year pre-tax profits of £115m, giving EPS of 68.8p, down from £117m and 71p.
| EUROMONEY INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS (ERM) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,020p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.3bn | |
| TOUCH: | 1,011-1,029p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,388p | LOW: 951p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.3% | PE RATIO: | 17 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 272p* | NET DEBT: | 11% | |
| Year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 330 | 71 | 50.0 | 18.0 |
| 2011 | 363 | 68 | 38.0 | 18.8 |
| 2012 | 394 | 92 | 56.7 | 21.8 |
| 2013 | 405 | 95 | 57.9 | 22.8 |
| 2014 | 407 | 101 | 59.5 | 23.0 |
| % change | +0 | +7 | +3 | +1 |
Ex-div: 27 Nov Payment: 12 Feb *Includes intangible assets of £545m, or 426p a share | ||||
