Reed Elsevier still plans to sell is business-to-business arm, Reed Business Information, despite pulling the division off the market.
In its full year 2008 results published today, Reed also revealed that its profits were down almost 40%.
The company halted the proposed sale of RBI in December, saying that the worsening state of the economy and poor credit market conditions meant that it could no longer make a disposal “on acceptable terms” (see Reed Elsevier scraps sale of trade magazine division).
Sir Crispin David, Reed Elsevier chief executive, said today: “We were disappointed not to be able to sell Reed Business Information, but the macroeconomic and poor credit market conditions made it too difficult to structure a transaction on acceptable terms.
“While the short-term outlook for RBI is very challenging, RBI is a high quality business, with a strong management team and a record of success in developing online services. It remains our intention to divest RBI in the medium term when conditions are more favourable.”
RBI’s profits were down almost 40% year on year, while pre-tax profits fell from £91 million to £55 million. Revenues dipped 1%.
