Crispin Davis, chief executive of Anglo-Dutch publishing group Reed Elsevier, this morning outlined how the company is increasing its momentum in the online publishing sector.
Speaking at Merrill Lynch’s annual TMT conference in London, Davis talked about how Reed Elsevier has moved away from print publishing to digital information services in its science, legal and business to business divisions. Reed believes that these moves present growth opportunities for the group.
Davis also drew on key indicators of the acceptance and penetration of Reed Elsevier’s online offerings. He said that the penetration of the ScienceDirect online service had increased to 57% of the Elsevier Science subscriber base by value in April 2001, up from the 45% reported for December 2000.
Business to business revenues from internet services should hit the 2001 target of £70 million, up 45% on the prior year. In the UK, internet revenues will account for around 18% of magazines and directory revenues, he said.
Reed Elsevier is in the process of acquiring US group Harcourt General, a deal that will create the world’s largest scientific and medical publisher (see US Clears Reed’s Harcourt General Acquisition).
At 1:00pm today shares were up 10p at 642.
