Emap today released interim results which, although in line with expectations, demonstrated the extent to which the group had been hit by the advertising slump and forecast no second half recovery.
The group said “normalised” pre-tax profits, excluding figures from its US operation which was sold in July, rose 8% to £55m, while revenues rose 3% to £456m. These figures were in line with expectations following the group’s trading statement in September.
In a difficult year, one which has seen the resignation of Emap’s chief executive Kevin Hand on the release of their year end results in May and the reintegration of the group’s costly digital operations in September, Emap has maintained revenue and circulation increases.
Emap Consumer Media, comprising the Elan, Automotive and Active networks, as well as FHM (retained by Emap in the US with the sale of Petersen) had a good first half with underlying, like for like revenues up 5% and underlying operating profit up 9%. Across the division circulation revenues grew by 12% for the period and advertising was up 5% year on year.
heat, an Emap Elan title, continues to grow readers and FHM continues to dominate the young men’s market in the UK. In the six months to June 2001 FHM was also the fastest growing magazine in the US and is now on sale in Russia, bringing the total number of territories in which FHM is published to 15.
Robin Miller, chief executive at Emap said “A lot has been achieved in the last six months with the Company beginning to regain some of the momentum it has lost in recent times. There is more to do. We have weathered a tough trading environment in the first half reasonably well, with solid market share gains achieved in all our key markets. With a broad revenue mix, strong cash flows and robust underlying profits, we expect this resilience to stand us in good stead over the remainder of what we expect to be a difficult year.”
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