February 23, 2012updated 12 Sep 2012 9:29pm

Underlying revenue up 4 per cent at Centaur

Business publisher Centaur has announced a 3 per cent drop in revenue in its half-year results but a 4 per cent rise in digital revenue, which now makes up almost a third of its total income.

The company said that underlying growth – which takes into account the impact of discontinued activities, acquisitions and disposals – was up 4 per cent in the first half of its financial year, while underlying earnings were up 39 per cent to £1.6m.

Over the last year the company has sold a number of titles and introduced a restructure that saw the departure of several senior management figures. It also scrapped the print editions of Design Week and New Media Age.

Today the company said digital revenue was up 10 per cent on an underlying basis, with events up 2 per cent and print revenue flat.

Digital now accounts for 32 per cent of income, print makes up 45 per cent and events revenue 22 per cent. Advertising accounted for 51 per cent of revenue and paid-for content 26 per cent.

Within the business publishing division, marketing and creative was down 7 per cent per cent, legal and financial was flat – with strong growth reported from its Mortgage Strategy title, and corporate services saw 'good underlying revenue growth'across its Employee Benefits and Engineering titles.

Centaur chief executive Geoff Wilmot said: 'The structural changes we introduced in the first half have enabled Centaur to deliver an encouraging performance in a challenging economic environment.

'We see further growth potential across each of the Business Publishing, Business Information and Exhibitions divisions and have identified a strong pipeline of potential acquisitions.

"These results reflect the quality of our core assets. Our restructuring programme has led to a re-balancing of revenues in favour of digital and events and we have made good progress in our investment in new products and bolt-on acquisitions.

"The second half of the year traditionally accounts for the majority of our earnings, and we anticipate trading in line with our expectations for the current financial year."

Last week the company announced the acquisition of the Profile Group for £8m and revealed that it had obtained a £40m debt facility to finance further acquisitions.