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February 27, 2008

Informa sees growth in ‘resilient’ B2B titles

By Paul McNally

B2B information provider Informa has described its publishing business as “resilient” and said it expected its titles to become an increasingly important part of its overall business in the coming year.

The group, which publishes maritime title Lloyd’s List, insurance journal The Review and Television Business Journal, this morning announced a 21 per cent increase in publishing revenues to £495m in 2007. Subscription sales grew by eight per cent.

In its end-of-year results, Informa said publishing accounted for 44 per cent of overall revenues and was expected to grow to around 50 per cent this year.

It said the publishing division continued to benefit from a shift towards electronic distribution and “away from more traditional personal subscription-based models”.

“Publishing is positioned well for 2008,” the company said this morning. “We are of course aware of the current uncertainty in the financial markets, but at this point the board sees no reason to alter its expectations that Informa will deliver another strong performance in 2008.”

Informa reported overall group-wide revenues of £1.13bn last year – up nine per cent on 2006. Operating profit stood at £261m, up 19 per cent year on year, and the group’s profit margin rose from 21 to 23 per cent in the same period.

The company’s confidence in publishing contrasts with Reed Elsevier, which last week announced it was selling its B2B division, Reed Business Information, because it was still heavily reliant on advertising and no longer fitted in with the rest of the company.

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