Year-end trading update

Centaur Media plc

Incorporated in England and Wales

Registration number: 04948078

LEI: 2138005WK87G7DQRQI62

ISIN: GB0034291418

15 January 2020

Centaur Media Plc

(the "Company" or the "Group")

Year-end trading update

Centaur Media Plc, an international provider of business information and specialist consultancy, is pleased to announce an update on trading in the year ended 31 December 2019.

The Board is confident that the Group will report results in line with current market expectations.

2019 was a transformational year for the Group as it completed its disposal programme and realised value by disposing of businesses with lower growth and margins. The Group now has a strong balance sheet and it is on track to improve margin in line with its Margin Acceleration Plan 2022 ("MAP22") through a combination of accelerated profitable revenue growth and cost efficiencies.

Highlights

• In September 2019, the Company announced MAP22 with the aim of raising group EBITDA margins to at least 20% by 2022. The Board is pleased to announce that it has delivered against internal milestones for 2019 in relation to MAP22 and is confident in its ability to continue to execute against this strategy;
• The margin improvement of Xeim, our marketing business, is well underway and has benefitted from planned management actions to withdraw from low-margin products;
• The Lawyer continues to grow at forecasted levels as we drive the growth of our subscription-based products;
• Centaur has strengthened its management with the appointments of Jude Bridge as managing partner of Oystercatchers, our marketing consultancy and networking business, and Darren McGill as managing director of MarketMakers, the UK's leading B2B telemarketing agency.

As announced in its 2019 interim results, from 1 January 2020 Centaur has adopted a new progressive dividend policy and will target a pay-out ratio of 40% of adjusted earnings, subject to a minimum annual dividend of 1p per share.

The Company will announce its results for the year ended 31 December 2019 on 18 March 2020.

Swag Mukerji, Chief Executive, said: "2019 was a transformational year for the Group during which we completed our disposal programme, resulting in a simpler business focused on the marketing services and legal sectors. Through MAP 22, we will continue to drive profitable revenue growth and create further cost efficiencies to lift EBITDA margins to our target level of at least 20% by 2022."

-Ends-

Enquiries:

Note to editors

Centaur is an international provider of business information and specialist consultancy that inspires and enables people to excel at what they do, raising the standard for insight, interaction and impact. 

Leading brands include: Econsultancy, Marketing Week, Festival of Marketing, MarketMakers, Creative Review, Influencer Intelligence, Fashion & Beauty Monitor, Oystercatchers and The Lawyer.