B2B publisher Centaur Media’s chief executive steps down after six years

The chief executive of B2B publisher Centaur Media is stepping down after almost six years at the company’s helm.

Andria Vidler will continue as a company director at the publisher of The Lawyer and Marketing Week until she steps down at the end of this month.

Vidler (pictured) is leaving the publisher, which has sold off several titles this year, to “explore new opportunities”, Centaur said in a statement.

She will be replaced by chief financial officer Swag Mukerji, who has said he wants to “increase efficiencies” to improve profit margins at the company.

Vidler said: “The business has undergone a radical transformation and is unrecognisable from the B2B publisher that I joined nearly six years ago.”

Centaur sold weekly newspaper Money Marketing, financial website Mortgage Strategy and three other finance brands to Metropolis Group for £5m earlier this year.

It later sold its engineering titles to the Mark Allen Group in a £2.5m deal. The B2B publisher said it planned to sell The Lawyer in November last year but rowed back on that decision in July.

Added Vidler: “Our strategy has delivered a total shareholder return of more than 30 per cent over the past three years.

“With the recent divestments now completed, I feel it is the right time for me to step down and hand the reins to Swag, who I am confident will maintain Centaur’s ongoing progress.”

Centaur Media chairman Colin Jones said Vidler had been “a driving force in the transformation” of the company.

He added: “Today’s Centaur is a stronger and more resilient business compared to the advertising-dependent publishing group of six years ago.”

Mukerji said he would “continue to drive efforts to grow our core businesses while ensuring shareholders benefit from the simplification of the portfolio brought about by our recent divestments”.

Picture: Centaur Media