Highbury House Loss Hits £25.7 Million

A difficult year for consumer magazine publisher Highbury House Communications led to a pre-tax loss of £25.7 million for 2003, the group said this morning. The loss highlights a year of change when compared to 2002, when the company achieved pre-tax profits of £6.7 million.

In 2003 Highbury acquired Cabal Communications and Paragon Publishing to strengthen its position in the consumer publishing market. It is now the seventh largest consumer publisher in terms of UK newsstand sales.

“2003 has been a very eventful year for the group. We took an important strategic decision to focus on consumer publishing and the acquisition of two high quality publishers have greatly strengthened our position in the consumer publishing market,” said Highbury’s chairman Ian Fletcher.

Pre-tax profits in business publishing fell by 22% to £7.5 million during 2003. The on-going difficult market conditions have forced the group to look at the possibility of selling its business publishing arm. Fletcher said: “We will continue to evaluate the potential sale of business publishing in the light of its performance and prevailing market conditions.”

Highbury House has an upbeat outlook for 2004 and plans to reap the benefits of the 2003 acquisitions. Trading up until the end of February has already exceeded expectations, according to Fletcher.

Highbury House Communications: 0207 331 1000 www.hhc.co.uk

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