Centaur Sees Profits Double In Interim Results

Business to business publisher, Centaur, has announced an impressive performance for the last six months of 2004, seeing profits more than double to £2.4 million following healthy growth in advertising revenues during the first half of the year.

The company, which publishes several trade and media titles, including New Media Age and Design Week, saw overall advertising revenues rise by 11% in the first half of the year, leading to a 21% increase in recruitment advertising.

The publisher also successfully launched Finance Week, the first weekly news magazine published exclusively for senior corporate accountants, as well as acquiring monthly title, Logistics Manager, to push the company into an entirely new business area.

Commenting on the results, Graham Sherren, chairman and chief executive officer of Centaur Holdings said: “The results in the first half show strong year-on-year growth. The outlook for the second half, which is traditionally our most profitable period, is encouraging and we expect further year on year growth in revenues and profits in the six months to June 2005. With a strong pipeline of new products and a continuing recovery in the advertising cycle, we remain on track to deliver our planned growth in EBITDA margins.”

Last year saw Centaur float on AIM following its sale to Numis Securities. Centaur Holdings, set up by Numis, agreed to buy the B2B publisher for £145 million, giving access to its wide ranging portfolio, which, amongst other respected titles, includes The Lawyer and Marketing Week (see Centaur To Float On Junior Share Market Next Week).

Centaur: 020 7970 4000 www.centaur.co.uk

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