Maiden Shows Strong Performance, But Hit By US Tragedy
Outdoor advertising group, Maiden, has this morning reported a solid performance for the half year, with sales rising by 8.4% to £41.2 million. This demonstrates strong organic growth at the company and substantially outperforms the outdoor market, which saw growth of 3% during the same period.
Pre-tax profit at Maiden was essentially flat at £5.3 million (£5.2 million last time), whilst earnings per share slipped by 0.2p to 8.5p. The company says that whilst 94% of 2000’s revenues have already been acheived, bookings being made at shorter notice are affecting yields and the second half performance.
Whilst Maiden is confident of its strong position in the outdoor market, the events of 11 September in the US have had an ‘extraordinary effect on what was already a weakening world advertising market,’ the group said. It warned that as a result, profits will not reach last year’s record levels in 2001.
Despite the positive news from the year so far, this profits warning was negatively received by the market this morning, with shares down by 42½p (15.3%) at 235p by 1:00pm.
