CMP Medica – home of B2B health titles including Pulse and The Practitioner – has reported a “disappointing performance” this year, as parent company United Business Media rolls out a £6m restructuring plan to get the publisher back on track.
In a trading update two weeks before the end of the UBM financial year, the company said CMP Medica has continued to see a fall in like-for-like revenues and profits, due in part to a decline in pharmaceutical advertising.
UBM deputy financial officer Andrew Crow has confirmed that a major restructuring is underway, but the benefits are unlikely to be seen until next year.
In an analysts’ conference call, Crow said: “The restructuring is in progress and we’d expect to see the benefits of that flowing through in 2008. It’s going to take 18 to 24 months to sort the business out. We’re six or seven months into that process now.
“We’ve not seen a change yet. We are reorganising and restructuring, and we’re pretty satisifed with the progress we’ve made so far. We would be disappointed if we got the same numbers we got this year.”
Elsewhere in United Business Media, CMP Information – publisher of Building and Music Week – has reported “particularly positive” trading results for the second half of the year. CMP Technology is also expected to post a year-on-year profit rise when UBM publishes its end-of-year results at the end of February.
More than 70 per cent of UBM’s profits come from its exhibitions and the PR Newswire. The company said that forward bookings for its biggest shows were about 10 per cent ahead of last year.
UBM has also confirmed it is looking to expand into South America, and is also looking to open offices in Dubai, India and Scandinavia.
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