Business information and publishing company United Business Media has revealed that it closed 15 print titles in the first half of this year and it has predicted more closures to come.
Announcing its half-year results on Friday, UBM said that the magazine world is “significantly over published” but that their remains “growing demand in some emerging markets” for print.
According to UBM “print has a role” but “significant rationalisation across the industry is inevitable” predicting further closures of weak titles.
UBM has 6,500 staff in 30 countries. In the UK its B2B brands include Property Week and Building.
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It reported half-year operating profit down 11.3 per cent to £78.3m on revenue down 2.4 per cent to £435m. UBM revealed that the headline figures were helped by dollar and euro exchange rate movements against sterling.
UBM turnover was split between events: £137.2m, date services and online: £126.6m, print magazines: £86.3m and targeting, distribution and monitoring: £84.9m.
Total turnover from “B2B communities” was £350.1m.
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Operating profit from print magazines dropped 77.9 per cent in the first of half to £3.3m, profit from events dropped 12.7 per cent to £37.8m and profit from data, services and online dropped 43.6 per cent to £16
Chief executive David Levin said: ‘Despite the challenging economic circumstances, we continue to pursue our established strategy. We remain focused on growing our portfolio of live events, data and online businesses, particularly in fast-growing and emerging markets.
‘Forward bookings for our major events for the second half of the year are running 5.9 per cent ahead, demonstrating the continued strong performance of our key tradeshow franchises, even during a period of acute economic pressure.”
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