A major restructuring effort which continued in the first half of the year has left Centaur in better shape – the group has streamlined its businesses, and focused on growing digital offerings which now represent a third of group sales. Indeed, management expect digital to account for more than half of group sales in the next three years.
The group itself is now split into three divisions: business publishing, business information – which houses digital solutions outfit Perfect Information – and exhibitions. But most of the core business publishing unit still depends on advertising, and underlying sales there slipped by 1 per cent to £17.6m. Encouragingly, this was mostly offset by solid growth in the more resilient exhibitions business, despite the unit being weighted towards the second half. In fact, sales from exhibitions surged 16 per cent to £6m. The digitally inclined business information division also performed positively, with sales growing 11 per cent to £3m.
Meanwhile, the group recently made four acquisitions, three of which will further bolster the digital offering, and with a £40m credit facility in place, management ais keen to continue to drive digital growth through more purchases.
Analysts at Peel Hunt expect 2012 adjusted pre-tax profits of £9.1m, giving EPS of 4.6p (from £6.5m and 3.4p in 2011).
CENTAUR MEDIA (CAU) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 45p | MARKET VALUE: | £63.4m | |
| TOUCH: | 43.5-45p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 68p | LOW: 32.5p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.6% | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 86.0p* | NET DEBT: | 5% | |
| Half-year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 27.5 | -1.6 | -0.9 | 0.70 |
| 2011 | 26.6 | -1.5 | -0.9 | 0.75 |
| % change | – | – | – | +7 |
Ex-div: 9 Mar Payment: 8 Apr *Includes intangible assets of £128.8m, or 91p a share | ||||
