United Business Media’s (UBM) chief executive, Clive Hollick, this morning said that ‘2001 was one of the toughest trading periods’ that the company has experienced, with the slump in technology advertising halving the group’s profits (see UBM Shares Fall As Profits Are Halved By Hi-Tech Ad Slowdown)
The business-to-business information technology market as a whole decreased by 45.1% in advertising page volumes in the month of January, compared to CMP Media’s High Tech publications which recorded a 36.0% decrease.
Positive growth in this sector is not expected by ABN Amro until September 2002. As a result the full year is forecast to see hi-tech ad revenues down by 13%.
Market research UBM’s market research revenues rose slightly by 3.2%, whilst underlying profits fell by 3.7%, mainly as a result of a H2 weakness in the UK market. The US market research business had a much better year, with underlying profit up 10.3%, according to ABN.