Replacement RNS : Preliminary Results

17 March 2016

 

Centaur Media Plc

 

Replacement notice of results

The following amendment has been made to the announcement released on 17 March 2016 at 07:00am under RNS No 3637S

"The final dividend in respect of the reporting period is subject to shareholder approval at the annual general meeting and will be paid on 27 May 2016 to all ordinary shareholders on the register at close of business on 6 May 2016."

 All other details remain unchanged.

 The full amended text is shown below.

 

 

Centaur Media Plc

Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2015

Steady progress in rebuild: revenues and margins improved

Centaur Media Plc (LSE: CAU), the multi-platform content group, is today publishing its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2015.

Financial highlights

·     Underlying revenues[1] increased 4% at £70.5m

·     Quality of mix continuing to improve: digital revenues +20%

·     Adjusted operating profits[2] up 14% on an underlying basis at £10.5m

o  Adjusted operating margins increase to 14.9% (2014: 14.0%)

 

·     Final dividend of 1.5p (2014: 1.3p) in line with guidance

·     Adjusted fully diluted EPS increases by 6% to 5.3p (2014: 5.0p)

·     Non cash impairment charge of £11.9m (2014: £nil) resulting in reported loss before tax of £5.6m (2014: PBT £11.3m)

·     Net debt at £17.9m (2014: £14.7m) with leverage (net debt/adjusted EBITDA) of 1.3 times

 

Outlook  

·     Encouraging start to 2016

·     5% revenue growth and modest improvement over 15% adjusted operating margin targeted for current year

·     Leverage (net debt / adjusted EBITDA) targeted at less than 1 times by end 2016

o  Cash conversion rates returning to +100% in 2016

 

Andria Vidler, CEO of Centaur Media commented:

"I'm pleased with these results.  They show steady progress as we rebuild Centaur for growth.  2015 was the year of heavy lifting with investment in IT systems across the group, developing our in-house capability and creating a strong customer-centric model.  2016 will see the completion of this work, allowing Centaur to accelerate towards our medium term target of a 20% adjusted operating margin."

 

Enquiries

Centaur Media Plc                                                                                                                              

Andria Vidler, Chief Executive Officer                                      020 7970 4000

Mark Kerswell, Group Finance Director

Investor Relations                                                                                                                                                   

Neville Harris, IRFocus                                                                     07909 976 044

 

 

	Year ended 31 December 2015	Year ended 31 December 2014	18 months ended 31 December 2014	Reported growth	Underlying growth1
	Audited	Unaudited	Audited
Revenue (£m)	70.5	72.8	105.6	(3%)	4%
Operating (loss) / profit (£m)[3]	(4.7)	3.0	1.1	(256%)
Adjusted operating profit (£m)	10.5	10.2	11.7	3%	14%
Adjusted operating profit margin2	14.9%	14.0%	11.1%
Adjusted profit before tax (£m)2	9.8	9.2	10.1
(Loss) / profit before tax (£m)3	(5.6)	14.2	11.3
Fully diluted EPS (pence)	(4.8)	9.1	7.2
Adjusted fully diluted EPS (pence)2	5.3	5.0	5.5	6%
Dividend per share (pence)	3.0	3.0	3.85
Adjusted operating cash flow (£m)2	3.3	12.5	12.9
Cash conversion	31%	123%	110%

 

Note to editors

Centaur Media is an award winning UK-based multi-platform content group that inspires and enables people to excel at what they do, raising the standard for market insight, interaction and impact.

Leading brands include: Econsultancy, Marketing Week, Festival of Marketing, Creative Review, Celebrity Intelligence, Fashion Monitor, Money Marketing, Platforum, The Lawyer, VB Research, Employee Benefits, The Engineer, Subcon, Homebuilding & Renovating, Business Travel Show and The Meetings Show.

Note to results

This announcement covers the statutory reporting period which is the year to 31 December 2015 ('the reporting period').  Due to the change in year end from 30 June to 31 December during 2014, resulting in an 18-month reporting period for 2014, we have considered it beneficial to include additional information in respect of the calendar year ended 31 December 2014 (which is unaudited) to enhance comparison with the 2015 reporting period.  References to underlying or reported growth refer to comparative 12 month periods throughout. 

 

Current trading and outlook

 

We have made an encouraging start to 2016, and we are targeting revenue growth of at least 5% for the year.  The Marketing portfolio has started the year well, and in February the Business Travel Show, one of the Group's larger events, reported revenues up 30%.

Cash collection continues to improve and we remain confident that cash conversion rates will return to normalised levels in 2016, with leverage (net debt/adjusted EBITDA) tracking below one times by the end of the year.

The Board remains encouraged by the continuing shift in the Group's revenues in favour of digital paid-for content and live events, which are both higher quality and higher margin.  This trend has been assisted by investment in infrastructure and people over the last two years.  We will undertake some further investment in the current year to substantially complete this process.  As a result, the adjusted operating margin in 2016 is expected to show only modest improvement over the 15% recorded in 2015.

However, we are aiming for an acceleration in our growth and margin in 2017 as the benefits of our investment in the business kick in.  We are maintaining our target for an operating margin of 20% for the business in the future.

Dividend

The Board is recommending a final dividend for the period July to December 2015 of 1.5p per share, giving a total dividend for the reporting period of 3.0p per share.

 

Overview

Centaur Media is a content business that predominantly offers professionals products and services that accelerate their marketing and business performance.  Our core objective is to deliver sustainable growth in revenues, profits and cash flow, and in turn to increase shareholder value.  To achieve this we have set out four strategic priorities.

·    To be the most knowledgeable, connected and authoritative experts in our markets

·    To generate sustainable growth in profits and cash flows with high quality, recurring revenue streams in an efficient and scalable operating model

·    To create products and services that are both innovative and market-leading, backed by strong digital events expertise

·    To be a united team of entrepreneurial, multi-skilled professionals

The Group's activities are categorised across four market segments: Marketing, Financial Services, Professional and Home Interest.  These activities are supported by expert teams across digital product development, IQ (marketing and research), production, live events and exhibition operations.

We build a deeper understanding of the commercial opportunities across each market through an unremitting focus on our markets and audience.  We know that our customers want flexible content that works seamlessly across multiple platforms.  By leveraging this market insight and an understanding of our customer requirements we are able to offer a higher-value customer proposition.  This is delivered in whatever format our clients want, whether that is in print, digital or as a live event.  Each market segment has clear growth plans focused on new digital products, new revenues streams, multi-platform content and clear competitor differentials.

Supporting each of these markets, we have centralised expert teams across digital product development, IQ (marketing and research), production, live events and exhibition operations.

These teams provide the expertise and scale that allows us to support effectively and efficiently the delivery of commercial opportunities across each market.  The creation of these expert teams also enables us to manage our cost base effectively and to prioritise investment across the business.

The commercial activities of the business, including the market-facing portfolios and the expert teams, are supported by group functions including finance, HR, property, legal, risk management and IT.

All costs across the business are tightly managed with a rigorous focus on margin and return on investment.  We seek to maintain as flexible and scalable a cost base as possible, outsourcing or consolidating shared activities where possible.  All of our London activities are now consolidated within one building.

This structure creates the potential to scale opportunities that alongside underlying revenue growth enables good progression in adjusted operating margins.  It also creates the opportunity to effectively bolt on acquisitions where these can accelerate revenue and margin growth.

While our business remains primarily UK-focused, we have a growing presence in North America and Asia, and we continue to explore opportunities across these markets. To underline Centaur's outward-looking strategy, an experienced general manager to oversee our US businesses was appointed in February 2015 and is based in our New York office.

Operating Review

 

This announcement covers the statutory reporting period which is the year to 31 December 2015 ('the reporting period').  Due to the change in year end from 30 June to 31 December during 2014, resulting in an 18-month reporting period for 2014, we have considered it beneficial to include additional information in respect of the calendar year ended 31 December 2014 (which is unaudited) to enhance comparison with the 2015 reporting period.  References to underlying or reported growth refer to comparative 12 month periods throughout.  

Revenues and adjusted operating profits for the year ended 31 December 2015, the previous statutory period for the 18 month period from 1 July 2013 to 31 December 2014, and the year ended 31 December 2014 are set out below.

	Year ended 31 December 2015	18 months ended 31 December 2014	Year ended 31 December 2014	Reported growth	Underlying growth[4]
	Audited	Audited	Unaudited
	£m	£m	£m	%	%
Revenue	70.5	105.6	72.8	-3%	4%
Adjusted operating profit5	10.5	11.7	10.2	3%
Adjusted operating margin5	14.9%	11.1%	14.0%

 

Also summarised on the same basis as above are the trends across the Group's three core revenue categories: paid-for content, live events and advertising.

 

 

	Year ended 31 December 2015	18 months ended 31 December 2014	Year ended 31 December 2014	Reported growth	Underlying growth
	Audited	Audited	Unaudited
	£m	£m	£m	%	%
Paid-for content	19.9	31.2	20.6	-3%	11%
Live events	27.2	39.3	28.9	-6%	1%
Advertising	22.5	33.7	22.4	0%	0%
Other	0.9	1.4	0.9	0%	0%
Total revenues	70.5	105.6	72.8	-3%	4%

 

Year ended 31 December 2015

Revenues for the reporting period were £70.5m.  Adjusted operating profits for the reporting period were £10.5m, with an adjusted operating profit margin of 15%.  In the previous statutory reporting period for the 18 month period ended 31 December 2014, reported revenues were £105.6m.  Adjusted operating profits for the same period were £11.7m with an adjusted operating profit margin of 11.1%.

Reflecting a more moderate growth outlook across portfolios reported within the Professional segment, including HR and Engineering, and specifically reflecting weaker print and advertising trends, the Group has recognised a non-cash impairment of £11.9m against goodwill in the Professional segment (2014: £nil). 

Live events and paid-for content revenues contributed £47.1m (67%) to revenues in the reporting period compared to £70.5m (68%) in the previous statutory reporting period for the 18 month period ended 31 December 2014. Advertising revenues accounted for 32% of revenues in the reporting period, consistent with the contribution reported in the previous statutory reporting period for the 18 month period ended 31 December 2014.

Additional Information (year ended 31 December 2014 unaudited)

Revenues and adjusted operating profits for the year ended 31 December 2014 were £72.8m and £10.2m respectively. While our reported revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 are 3% lower than reported in the year ended 31 December 2014, underlying revenue growth, when adjusted for the disposal of Perfect Information, Aidex and event rationalisation was 4%.

Across the Group's core revenue categories, paid-for content revenues (£19.9m, 28% of total revenues) continued to grow well and advertising revenues (£22.5m, 32% of total revenues) were stable following a 9% underlying revenue decline reported in 2014. Digital advertising revenues, which account for 58% of total advertising revenues, grew by 16%. Live events revenues (£27.2m, 39% of total revenues) grew modestly on an underlying basis, with good growth across the exhibitions portfolio being offset by revenue declines across training, awards and other smaller event formats. Other revenues primarily include rental income.

Divisional Review

Across our four market segments, revenues are weighted towards the Marketing and Professional segments, with the Financial Services and Home Interest segments accounting for approximately 34% of total Group revenues.

Marketing

This segment includes all of the Group's brands that serve Marketing and Creative professions, including Econsultancy, Marketing Week, Festival of Marketing, Celebrity Intelligence, Fashion Monitor, Design Week and Creative Review.

 

	Year ended 31 December 2015	18 months ended 31 December 2014	Year ended 31 December 2014	Reported growth	Underlying growth
	Audited	Audited	Unaudited
	£m	£m	£m	%	%
Revenue	27.0	37.6	26.8	1%	4%
Adjusted operating profit	4.1	4.0	3.9	5%
Adjusted operating margin	15.2%	10.6%	14.6%

 

Year ended 31 December 2015

Revenues for the reporting period were £27.0m.  Adjusted operating profits for the same period were £4.1m, with an adjusted operating profit margin of 15.2%. In the previous statutory reporting period for the 18 month period ended 31 December 2014, reported revenues were £37.6m.  Adjusted operating profits for the same period were £4.0m with an adjusted operating profit margin of 10.6%.

Additional Information (year ended 31 December 2014 unaudited) 

Revenues and adjusted operating profits for the year ended 31 December 2014 were £26.8m and £3.9m respectively.  Reported revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 grew by 1% compared to the year ended 31 December 2014.  Adjusted for the impact of a repositioned Marketing Week Live, which increased profitability across a more targeted, smaller event proposition, underlying revenue growth for the same period was 4%.

Momentum across this segment's paid-for content revenues remains strong, with digital paid-for content revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 of £11.0m growing by 22%, and with excellent growth from the Celebrity Intelligence and Fashion Monitor platforms.  Live events revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 of £8.2m were on an underlying basis, 7% lower than in the year ended 31 December 2014, and this reflects disappointing training revenues and the impact of consolidating the Marketing Week Engage Awards into the Festival of Marketing. This awards event will run on a stand-alone basis in 2016. The Festival of Marketing ran in November 2015 and reported revenues of £2.0m, 14% up on the 2014 edition of this event.  In aggregate, paid-for content and live events revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 contributed 73% (year ended 31 December 2014: 72%) to this segment's revenues.

The increase in digital investment across the Marketing segment, which includes the migration of all branded web sites onto the WordPress platform and investment into the digital paid-for content platforms, supported total digital revenues in the year ended 31 December 2015 of £16.0m, 17% higher than in the year ended 31 December 2014. The increase in digital investment resulted in an increase in the depreciation charge from £1.4m in the year ended 31 December 2014 to £1.9m in the year ended 31 December 2015.  Despite the impact of the increase in digital investment, adjusted operating profits increased from £3.9m in the year ended 31 December 2014 to £4.1m in the year ended 31 December 2015, with operating margins increasing from 14.6% to 15.2%.

The outlook across the Marketing segment remains encouraging.  While the live events performance in the year ended 31 December 2015 was disappointing, we anticipate a return to growth in 2016 across all live events formats, and further growth in digital paid-for content revenues.

Highlights - Marketing Portfolio

Fashion and Beauty Monitor

Fashion and Beauty Monitor is the only digital resource to provide media, PR and brand contacts and industry events, news and intelligence for the fashion, beauty and lifestyle industries, all in one place.  With professional details on more than 50,000 fashion, beauty and lifestyle contacts, Fashion and Beauty Monitor is relied upon by almost 900 subscribing companies worldwide.  In 2015, the team developed a ground-breaking new curated database on influencers which is scheduled to launch in early 2016.  Building upon 20 years of experience in the UK, Fashion and Beauty Monitor launched in the US in late 2014.  As a result, in 2015 Fashion and Beauty Monitor's global revenue growth was led by its US product which grew at 63%.  The US launch was met with commercial acclaim and, in 2015, attracted leading brands including Kate Spade, DKNY, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hugo Boss, Vivienne Westwood and Time Inc as corporate subscribers.

Econsultancy

 

Econsultancy enables businesses and professionals to succeed in digital, marketing and ecommerce through a range of resources, including best practice reports, trends briefings, training, online resources, events and digital transformation consulting.  In 2015, Econsultancy introduced a new Commercial Director and focused its strategy on driving its subscription business, concentrating on corporate 'enterprise' subscriptions.  Key new enterprise clients included leading brands such as Matalan, Just Eat and Lego.  In 2015, Econsultancy won a UK Blog Award for Digital and Tech, reflecting the strength of its content and its position at the very heart of the digital industry.

Festival of Marketing

Launched in 2013, the Festival of Marketing is the largest gathering of senior marketing professionals in the UK.  In 2015, the Festival delivered a phenomenal 160 hours of content to an audience of discerning practitioners over two days with 12 stages and 257 speakers.  Speakers included entrepreneur and celebrity Lord Sugar and astronaut Chris Hadfield alongside marketing and business leaders from brands such as Estee Lauder and BT.  The 2015 Festival featured 'The Masters of Marketing', an innovative new awards scheme for marketeers and the Festival broke a Guinness World Record for the largest marketing lesson ever given.  This event won multiple awards, including 'Event of the Year' at the British Media Awards and 'Best Live Event' at the Association of Event Organisers Awards.

Design Week

Design Week is the leading B2B title for the UK design industry launched in 1986 and has been exclusively online since 2011.  In 2015, Design Week launched a new responsive website.  Built using extensive reader consultation, the new website reflects Design Week's content strategy focusing on readers' key interests: 'People', 'Projects', 'Insight' and 'Resources'.  The new website has been well-received and, in the first six months following its launch, Design Week acquired 40,000 new registered users.  User engagement has also increased (readers now view an average of 3 pages a session compared with 2.7 before), and this has enabled Design Week to adapt its commercial model, resulting in commercial deals with market leaders including IBM and Workfront.

Financial Services

Serving the retail financial services industry, this portfolio includes Money Marketing, Fund Strategy, Mortgage Strategy, Corporate Advisor, Tax Briefs, Headline Money and Platforum.

	Year ended 31 December 2015	18 months ended 31 December 2014	Year ended 31 December 2014	Reported growth	Underlying growth
	Audited	Audited	Unaudited
	£m	£m	£m	%	%
Revenue	12.0	17.6	12.0	0%	3%
Adjusted operating profit	2.1	2.6	2.0	5%
Adjusted operating margin	17.5%	14.8%	16.7%

 

 

Year ended 31 December 2015

Revenues for the reporting period were £12.0m.  Adjusted operating profits for the same period were £2.1m, with an adjusted operating profit margin of 17.5%.  In the previous statutory reporting period for the 18 month period ended 31 December 2014, reported revenues were £17.6m.  Adjusted operating profits for the same period were £2.6m with an adjusted operating profit margin of 14.8%.

Additional Information (year ended 31 December 2014 unaudited) 

Revenues and adjusted operating profits for the year ended 31 December 2014 were £12.0m and £2.0m respectively. Reported revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 were flat compared to the year ended 31 December 2014.  Adjusted for the impact of discontinued events, underlying revenue growth for the same period was 3%, a significant improvement on the 12% decline in revenues reported in the year ended 31 December 2014.

Paid-for content and live events revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 contributed 51% (year ended 31 December 2014: 57%) to this segment's revenues.  While paid-for content revenues grew modestly, the performance across this segment's live events revenues was disappointing with reported revenues of £2.4m, £0.7m lower than reported in the year ended 31 December 2014, although live events revenues trends stabilised in the second half of the year.  The Financial Services segment continues to have the highest exposure to advertising revenues, which accounted for 49% of 2015 revenues (year ended 31 December 2014: 42%), and which grew by 11%.  Digital advertising revenues, which now account for just over half of total advertising revenues, grew by 57%.

Adjusted operating profits for the year ended 31 December 2015 of £2.1m were 5% higher than the £2.0m reported in the year ended 31 December 2014, with operating margins at 17.5% (year ended 31 December 2014: 16.7%).

The introduction of new commercial and editorial leadership in 2014 is reflected in a stronger underlying performance in 2015.  With further initiatives deployed in 2015 to ensure that the commercial, marketing and events teams are more closely aligned with a strategy that is focused on delivering trusted insight and routes to market for the retail financial services industry, the outlook across this portfolio remains encouraging.  Initiatives across the live events team are expected to see a return to growth in 2016 revenues, digital advertising revenues continue to grow well, and we see good opportunity to build a higher value paid-for content proposition in the medium-term.

Highlights - Financial Services Portfolio

Platforum

2015 was a significant year for Platforum, which offers objective research and trusted insight from industry experts to fund management firms, life companies and platforms, informing their products, propositions and distribution strategy.  New research areas for Platforum in 2015 included robo-advice, the influence of discretionary fund management and retirement.  These were supported by a new online platform for delivering reports and analyst briefings offering 'deep dives' for customers.  In 2015, Platforum's business model evolved from sales of single copy reports to annual subscriptions providing online access to all research areas.  Platforum also launched a new direct to consumer conference covering the shifts in the fund distribution landscape, and the Platforum's annual conference, now in its ninth year, remained a key event in the retail investment distribution calendar. Following the appointment of its new management team, Platforum now has a new team of industry experts in place across the following key research areas: UK and European fund distribution; the advisory market; direct to consumer; and retirement.

Money Marketing

Against a backdrop of the biggest shake-up to UK pensions in a generation and the prospect of yet another overhaul to the financial advice profession, Money Marketing continues to be firmly established as the leading publication for financial advisers.  Building upon its well-received magazine redesign in 2014, in 2015 Money Marketing re-launched its website on a fully responsive mobile-friendly platform, earning it 'Best Financial Trade Website' at the Santander Media Awards.  Money Marketing also won other awards in 2015 including 'Trade Title of the Year, 'Journalist of the Year' and 'Article of the Year'. 2015 was Money Marketing's 30th anniversary and the celebratory event gathered together luminaries from across the financial services industry including representatives from the FCA, Ernst & Young and Lansons.

Professional

The Professional segment includes four subsidiary markets: Legal, Engineering, HR and Travel & Meetings.  The Legal portfolio includes the print, digital and live events activities associated with The Lawyer and VB Research. The principal assets within the Engineering portfolio are The Engineer and Subcon, an exhibition that serves the sub-contractor industry. The HR portfolio includes FEM, Employee Benefits and Employee Benefits Live, and Travel & Meetings includes two exhibitions serving the Business Travel and Meetings markets.

	Year ended 31 December 2015	18 months ended 31 December 2014	Year ended 31 December 2014	Reported growth	Underlying growth
	Audited	Audited	Unaudited
	£m	£m	£m	%	%
Revenue	19.7	34.6	22.9	-14%	1%
Adjusted operating profit	2.2	3.2	2.6	-15%
Adjusted operating margin	11.2%	9.2%	11.4%

 

Year ended 31 December 2015

Revenues for the reporting period were £19.7m.  Adjusted operating profits for the same period were £2.2m, with an adjusted operating profit margin of 11.2%.  In the previous statutory reporting period for the 18 month period ended 31 December 2014, reported revenues were £34.6m.  Adjusted operating profits for the same period were £3.2m with an adjusted operating profit margin of 9.2%.

Additional Information (year ended 31 December 2014 unaudited) 

Revenues and adjusted operating profits for the year ended 31 December 2014 were £22.9m and £2.6m respectively. Reported revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 declined by 14% compared to the year ended 31 December 2014.  Adjusted for the impact of the disposal of Perfect Information, Aidex and events rationalisation, underlying revenue growth for the same period was 1%.

Paid-for content and live events revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 contributed 66% to this segment's revenues (year ended 31 December 2014: 64%).

Adjusted operating profits fell from £2.6m in the year ended 31 December 2014 to £2.2m in the year ended 31 December 2015, with operating margins of 11.2% (year ended 31 December 2014: 11.4%). 

Across each of the four subsidiary market portfolios:

·     The Legal portfolio reported revenues of £7.5m in 2015, a 7% increase compared to 2014.  Growth across this portfolio was driven through increases in digital paid-for content and live events revenues, offset by weaker advertising revenues.  Lawyer Marketing Intelligence was launched towards the end of 2015.

·     Underlying revenues across the HR portfolio of £4.5m were 6% lower than in 2014, reflecting, with the exception of Employee Benefits Live, continued weakness across this portfolio's advertising and live events activities.

·     The Engineering portfolio reported revenues of £3.6m, up 20% on a reported basis.  Adjusting for the impact of the biennial Advanced Manufacturing Show and a discontinued event, underlying revenues grew by 5%.

·     The Travel & Meetings portfolio includes The Business Travel Show and The Meetings Show.  Revenues across this portfolio of £4.1m were up 6% on an underlying basis reflecting good growth across The Business Travel Show offset by flat revenues for The Meetings Show.

There are encouraging areas for growth within the Professional segment, with the Legal and Travel & Meetings portfolios offering the greatest opportunity to accelerate growth.

Highlights - Professional Portfolio

Lawyer Market Intelligence

In late 2015, The Lawyer launched its new subscription product, The Lawyer Market Intelligence (LMI), coinciding with the relaunch of The Lawyer's website and print magazine.  LMI is a real-time digital intelligence tool that aims to give subscribers valuable insights into the relationships between thousands of legal advisers and their global clients.  LMI identifies these relationships at both an organisational and individual level and its data, which builds upon the content and information-gathering expertise of The Lawyer, spans over three years' worth of corporate deals, disputes and other legal advisory work.  LMI is primarily aimed at law firms, who can use it to track competitor activity and identify gaps in client coverage, and in-house legal teams, who can use it to make informed decisions about the legal advisors and partners they instruct.  Initial sales in late 2015 to customers including some of the UK's top 20 law firms demonstrate LMI's strong potential for growth during 2016.

Home Interest                                     

The Home Interest segment includes the live events and publishing assets focusing on homebuilding and home renovation.  These include Homebuilding & Renovating, Real Homes and Period Living:

	Year ended 31 December 2015	18 months ended 31 December 2014	Year ended 31 December 2014	Reported growth	Underlying growth
	Audited	Audited	Unaudited
	£m	£m	£m	%	%
Revenue	11.8	15.8	11.1	6%	9%
Adjusted operating profit	2.1	1.9	1.7	24%
Adjusted operating margin	17.8%	12.0%	15.3%

 

Year ended 31 December 2015

Revenues for the reporting period were £11.8m.  Adjusted operating profits for the same period were £2.1m, with an adjusted operating profit margin of 17.8%.  In the previous statutory reporting period for the 18 month period ended 31 December 2014, reported revenues were £15.8m.  Adjusted operating profits for the same period were £1.9m with an adjusted operating profit margin of 12.0%.

Additional Information (year ended 31 December 2014 unaudited) 

Revenues and adjusted operating profits for the year ended 31 December 2014 were £11.1m and £1.7m respectively.  Reported revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 grew by 6% compared to the year ended 31 December 2014.  Adjusted for the impact of one discontinued event, underlying revenue growth for the same period was 9%.

Paid-for content and live events revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015 contributed 69% (year ended 31 December 2014: 71%) to this segment's revenues.  Paid-for content revenues, which are predominantly print based copy sales, declined by 10% in the year ended 31 December 2015.  Live events revenues, which have been consolidated around the Homebuilding & Renovating brand, and which account for almost half of this segment's revenues, grew on an underlying basis by 13%.  Advertising revenues, which accounted for 31% of this segment's revenues for the year ended 31 December 2015, grew by 11%.

Adjusted operating profits for the year ended 31 December 2015 of £2.1m were 24% higher than the £1.7m reported in the year ended 31 December 2014, with operating margins at 17.8% (year ended 31 December 2014: 15.3%).  The strong increase in adjusted operating profits reflects the impact of excellent underlying revenue growth across the live events portfolio, strong growth in digital advertising revenues, and tight cost control.

The outlook across this segment is extremely encouraging.  The consolidation of the content, commercial, marketing and digital development teams in 2014 has underpinned good growth in 2015, and we have a clear focus on building a high growth, high value professional portfolio.  Alongside what we regard as a positive underlying market, we believe we can continue to deliver strong growth this portfolio and higher quality mix of live events and digital revenues.

Highlights - Home Interest Portfolio

Homebuilding & Renovating

Now in its 25th year, Homebuilding & Renovating enjoyed a record year in 2015 with 14% revenue growth driven by events and digital services.  Homebuilding & Renovating has a high-spending consumer audience that shares many of its characteristics with Centaur's B2B brands.  The business comprises a subscriptions-driven monthly magazine, responsive website, data service, seven national exhibitions, specialist books and an annual awards event in association with The Daily Telegraph.  

Homebuilding & Renovating Show London

In 2015 the Home Interest team successfully converted the Home Improvement show into The Homebuilding & Renovating Show London and relocated it from London's Olympia to the expansive Excel exhibition venue.  The exhibition had a 10% increase in exhibitors, 19% increase in high quality visitors and 19% growth in revenue year-on-year.  At the centre of the Homebuilding & Renovating Show London was a series of live seminars and one-on-one 'advice zones' with our own trusted experts and additional industry leaders including TV's Charlie Luxton and Gabrielle Blackman.  Centaur's investment and focus on quality at the Show has meant the London event won the prestigious 'PPA Consumer Exhibition of the Year' award for 2015.

Financial Review 

Reporting Period

This announcement covers the statutory reporting period which is the year ended 31 December 2015 ('the reporting period').  Due to the change in year end from 30 June to 31 December during 2014, resulting in an 18-month reporting period for 2014, we have considered it beneficial to include additional information in respect of the calendar year ended 31 December 2014 (which is unaudited) to enhance comparison with the 2015 reporting period.  References to underlying or reported growth refer to comparative 12 month periods throughout.  

Adjusted and Statutory Results 

In these results we refer to adjusted and statutory results.  Adjusted results are prepared to provide a more comparable indication of the Group's underlying business performance.  Adjusted results exclude adjusting items as set out in the Consolidated Income Statement and below.

The Group's activities are predominantly UK based and therefore currency movements have negligible impact on the Group's adjusted or statutory results.

Adjusted operating profit reconciles to (loss) / profit before tax as follows:

			Year ended 31 December	18 months ended 31 December
			2015	2014
		Note	£m	£m
Adjusted operating profit			10.5	11.7
Finance costs			(0.7)	(1.6)
Adjusted profit before tax			9.8	10.1
Adjusting items	Exceptional operating costs (excluding impairment and profit on disposal)	4	(0.8)	(6.7)
	Exceptional impairment of goodwill	7	(11.9)	-
	Exceptional profit on disposal of subsidiary		-	14.7
	Exceptional profit on disposal of trade and assets	4	0.4	-
	Amortisation of acquired intangibles	4	(2.2)	(3.4)
	Share-based payments		(0.7)	(0.5)
	Exceptional finance costs	4	(0.2)	(2.9)
(Loss) / profit before tax			(5.6)	11.3

 

Summary

 

Commentary on revenues and adjusted operating profits for the reporting period, the previous statutory reporting period for the 18 month period ended 31 December 2014, and the year ended 31 December 2014 are set out within the operating review.

The business has made steady progress against its strategic priorities during 2015, and in this context, the results are encouraging, with adjusted operating profit margins up to 15%.  Cash conversion was disappointing throughout 2015, but working capital trends are expected to improve into 2016.  Net debt at 31 December 2015 was £17.9m compared to £14.7m at 31 December 2014. 

Reflecting a more moderate growth outlook across portfolios reported within the Professional segment, including HR and Engineering, and specifically reflecting weaker print and advertising trends, the Group has recognised a non-cash impairment of £11.9m against goodwill in the Professional segment (2014: £nil). 

The Group's KPI measures are underlying revenue growth, adjusted operating profit margin, adjusted EPS and cash conversion.  Aside from 2015 cash conversion, we are making steady progress against each, and further detail is set out in this financial review and in the operating review.

Revenues

Revenues for the reporting period were £70.5m (2014: £105.6m).  Further information on the divisional revenue performance and the mix of revenues across paid-for content, live events and advertising is included in the operating review.    

 

 

Operating Profit

Adjusted operating profits for the reporting period were £10.5m (2014: £11.7m), with an adjusted operating profit margin of 14.9% (2014: 11.1%).  Further information on the divisional adjusted operating profit performance is included in the operating review.

Net adjusted operating expenses were £60.0m (2014: £93.9m).  Employee related expenses in the reporting period were £30.2m (2014: £40.5m), with the average number of permanent employees during the reporting period of 564 (2014: 584). 

Reported operating losses for the reporting period of £4.7m (2014: profits of £1.1m) include an impairment charge against goodwill of £11.9m (2014: £nil), a £2.2m charge for amortisation of intangible assets (2014: £3.4m), exceptional costs of £0.8m (2014: £6.7m), share-based payment costs of £0.7m (2014: £0.5m) and a gain on disposal of the trade and assets of Aidex of £0.4m (2014: £nil).

Adjusting Items

 

Adjusting items in the reporting period generated a loss before tax of £15.4m (2014: profit before tax of £1.2m), which includes an exceptional impairment charge of £11.9m (2014: £nil), relating to the write down of goodwill in the Professional segment.

Exceptional restructuring costs in the reporting period of £0.6m (2014: £1.2m) include redundancy costs of £0.6m (2014: £0.9m) which principally relate to changes in senior management.  Other exceptional items include IFRS 3 earn-out charges of £0.1m (2014: £5.0m) and a gain on disposal of the trade and assets of Aidex of £0.4m (2014: £nil).  Other exceptional items during 2014 included a profit on the disposal of Perfect Information of £14.7m, charges of £0.5m relating to property consolidation, acquisition related costs and other exceptional items.  A charge was recognised during 2014 relating to the unwinding the remaining discount on the Econsultancy.com Limited deferred contingent consideration provision of £2.9m.

Other adjusting items include amortisation of acquired intangibles of £2.2m (2014: £3.4m) and share-based payments of £0.7m (2014: £0.5m).

Further analysis on these costs is included in notes 1 and 4.

Net Finance Costs

Adjusted net finance costs for the reporting period were £0.7m (2014: £1.6m).  Net finance costs for the reporting period were £0.9m (2014: £4.5m), which includes unamortised facility costs (£0.1m) and legal fees (£0.1m) associated with the re-financing of the Group's revolving credit facility.  During 2014 a charge of £2.9m was recognised in relation to the unwinding of the remaining discount on the Econsultancy.com Limited deferred contingent consideration provision of £2.9m, which was accelerated as part of its early settlement in June 2014.

Taxation 

A tax charge of £1.3m (2014: £0.8m) has been recognised for the reporting period.  The adjusted tax charge was £1.9m (2014: £2.1m) giving an effective tax rate (compared to adjusted profit before tax) of 19% (2014: 21%).  The fall in tax rate is due to the Finance Act 2013 which included legislation to reduce the main rate of corporation tax from 21% to 20% from 1 April 2015, which meant that the Company's profits were taxed in the UK at a blended rate of 20.25% (2014: 22.00%). Furthermore, as the Finance Act 2013 had been substantively enacted at the balance sheet date, the Group's deferred tax balances arising the UK are recorded at 20%. 

 

Earnings Per Share

 

The Group has reported adjusted fully diluted earnings per share for the reporting period of 5.3p (2014: 5.5p). Fully diluted earnings per share for the reporting period were (4.8)p (2014: 7.2p).  Full details of the earnings per share calculations can be found in note 6. 

Dividend

An interim dividend of 1.5p per share was paid in respect of the period January to June 2015 (January to June 2014: 1.7p).  A final dividend in respect of the period July to December 2015 of 1.5p per share (July to December 2014: 1.3p) is proposed by the Directors, giving a total dividend for the year ended 31 December 2015 of 3.0p (2014: 3.85p), a decrease of 22%.

The final dividend in respect of the reporting period is subject to shareholder approval at the annual general meeting and will be paid on 27 May 2016 to all ordinary shareholders on the register at close of business on 6 May 2016.

The Group has adopted a progressive dividend strategy.  Adjusted dividend cover in the reporting period was 1.8 times and it is intended to move above 2 times in the medium term. 

Cash Flow 

A summary of the Group's cash flow in the reporting period, in the 18 month period to 31 December 2014 and in the year ended 31 December 2014 is set out below.  The Group generated free cash flow in the reporting period of £0.5m (2014: £6.7m).  This reflects disappointing working capital trends during 2015, which are expected to partially reverse into 2016, and the Directors remain confident that the Group's business model will return to being highly cash generative in the future.  Movements in working capital in 2014 also benefited from a rent free period on the Group's London office space until November 2014 (increased cash outflow in 2015 of £1.3m).  Cash conversion, measuring the ratio of operating cash flow to adjusted operating profits, was 31% in the reporting period (2014: 110%).   

	Year ended  31 December 2015	18 months ended 31 December 2014	Year ended 31 December 2014
	Audited	Audited	Unaudited
	£m	£m	£m
Adjusted cash flow
Adjusted operating profit	10.5	11.7	10.2
Depreciation and amortisation	3.0	4.5	3.2
Movement in working capital	(6.9)	3.2	2.6
Capital expenditure	(3.3)	(6.5)	(3.5)
Adjusted operating cash flow	3.3	12.9	12.5
Cash impact of exceptional items	(0.5)	(1.9)	(0.9)
Taxation	(1.4)	(2.5)	(1.2)
Interest and finance leases	(0.9)	(1.8)	(1.2)
Free cash flow	0.5	6.7	9.2
Acquisitions	(0.1)	(19.6)	(16.8)
Disposals	0.4	23.5	23.5
Dividends	(4.0)	(5.8)	(3.6)
Net cash flow	(3.2)	4.8	12.3
Opening net debt	(14.7)	(19.5)	(27.0)
Closing net debt	(17.9)	(14.7)	(14.7)

 

The cash impact of exceptional items primarily related to redundancy costs during 2015, and included costs relating to an onerous lease in 2014.

Acquisitions net of disposals generated a cash inflow of £0.3m in the reporting period (2014: cash inflow of £3.9m).

Net Debt

Net debt at 31 December 2015 was £17.9m, £3.2m higher than the £14.7m reported as at 31 December 2014.

Financing and Bank Covenants

On 8 June 2015, the Group agreed a four year £25.0m multi-currency revolving credit facility, provided by RBS and Lloyds. This facility runs to 31 August 2019. The principal financial covenants under the facility are: the ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA shall not exceed 2.5:1, and the ratio of EBITDA to net finance charges shall not be less than 4:1.  All covenants under the facility at 31 December 2015 and throughout the reporting period have been met.

Balance Sheet

A summary of the Group's balance sheet as at 31 December 2015 and 2014 is set out below. 

	Year ended 31 December 2015	18 months ended 31 December 2014
	Audited	Audited
	£m	£m
Goodwill and other intangible assets	96.4	109.9
Property, plant and equipment	2.3	2.5
Deferred consideration on acquisitions	-	(1.1)
Deferred income	(17.0)	(15.3)
Other current assets and liabilities	12.7	6.4
Deferred taxation	(0.1)	(0.9)
Net assets before net debt	94.3	101.5
Net debt	(17.9)	(14.7)
Net assets	76.4	86.8

 

Reflecting a more moderate growth outlook across portfolios reported within the Professional segment, including HR and Engineering, and specifically reflecting weaker print and advertising trends, the Group has recognised a non-cash impairment of £11.9m against goodwill in the Professional segment (2014: £nil). 

Additional Information (unaudited) 

Due to the change in the year end from 30 June to 31 December during 2014, resulting in an 18 month reporting period for 2014, we have considered it beneficial to include additional information in respect of the calendar year ended 31 December 2014 (which is unaudited) to enhance comparison with the 2015 reporting period.  References to underlying or reported growth refer to comparative 12 month periods throughout.  Further commentary is set out below.

·     Revenue and Adjusted Operating Profit

Revenues and adjusted operating profits in 2015 were £70.5m (2014: £72.8m) and £10.5m (2014: £10.2m).  Lower reported revenues during 2015 reflect the disposal of Perfect Information during in June 2014.  Underlying trends, adjusting for the sale of Perfect Information, Aidex and event rationalisation, show growth of 4% and 14% in revenue and adjusted operating profit respectively.

 

·     Adjusting Items

Adjusting items before tax in 2015 totalled an expense of £3.5m (2014: credit of £5.0m).  In 2014, a non-core business, Perfect Information, was disposed of generating a profit of £14.7m, which was offset by deferred contingent consideration costs of £5.0m relating to Econsultancy.com Limited.

·     Net Finance Costs

Adjusted finance costs for 2015 were £0.6m (2014: £1.0m).  The reduction in finance costs reflects lower net debt during 2015 compared to 2014 following the sale of Perfect Information in June 2014, as well as more favourable interest rates following the Group's refinancing in June 2015.  Net finance costs for 2015 of £0.8m (2014: £3.5m) include unamortised facility costs (£0.1m) and legal fees (£0.1m) associated with the re-financing of the Group's revolving credit facility, and in 2014 included a charge of £2.5m for unwinding the remaining discount on the Econsultancy.com Limited deferred contingent consideration provision which was accelerated as part of its early settlement in June 2014.

·     Share-Based Payments

Share-based payments in 2015 increased to £0.7m (2014: £0.4m), reflecting increased participation in the award schemes among senior management.

·     Tax

A tax charge of £1.3m has been recognised in 2015 (2014: £1.0m).  The adjusted tax charge was £1.9m (2014: £1.9m) giving an effective tax rate (compared to adjusted profit before tax) of 19% (2014: 21%).

·     Adjusted Earnings Per Share

Fully diluted adjusted earnings per share in the year ended 31 December 2015 were 5.3p (2014: 5.0p), an increase of 6%. 

·     Cash Flow

The Group generated free cash flows in 2015 of £0.5m (2014: £9.2m).  This reflects disappointing working capital trends during 2015, which are expected to reverse into 2016, and the Directors remain confident that the Group's business model will return to being highly cash generative in the future.  Movements in working capital in 2014 benefited from a rent free period on the Group's London office space until November 2014.  Cash conversion, measuring the ratio of operating cash flow to adjusted operating profits, was 31% in the reporting period (2014: 123%).

●    Dividend

An interim dividend of 1.5p per share was paid in respect of the period January to June 2015 (January to June 2014: 1.7p). A final dividend in respect of the period July to December 2015 of 1.5p per share (July to December 2014: 1.3p) is proposed by the Directors, giving a total dividend for 2015 of 3.0p (2014: 3.0p).

Adjusted dividend cover in 2015 was 1.8 times (2014: 1.7 times).

Conclusion

2015 has been a challenging year.  While revenue trends have been weaker than anticipated, the Group has worked hard to manage its cost base, with adjusted operating margins increasing to 15%.  With a more moderate growth outlook across the Professional segment, the Group has recognised a non-cash impairment of £11.9m against goodwill.

The deployment of new finance and CRM systems during 2015 provides a strong platform to support revenue and margin growth in the medium term.  However, the operational and commercial disruption associated with the deployment of these technology platforms has had a material impact on the collection of trade receivables during the year, and the increase in net debt to £17.9m at 31 December 2015 reflects the disappointing cash conversion throughout 2015.  I am pleased to see trends in cash collections improve since November 2015, and the Group's business model, with a high proportion of live events and subscription revenues, should remain cash generative.

I am encouraged by the continuing shift in favour of digital paid-for content and events, and the opportunity in the medium term to translate growing revenues to progressively improving adjusted operating margins.

 

Mark Kerswell

Group Finance Director

16 March 2016