The Bookseller.com

29th August 2008

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Informa profits from Blackwell sale

30.08.07 Philip Jones

Informa, parent of Taylor & Francis, made £33.4m from the sale of Blackwell Publishing to John Wiley. The figure is revealed in Informa's interim results, which showed that the business improved its adjusted profit by 14% to £95.6m despite flat sales of £532.5m.

Informa is understood to have built up a small stake in Blackwell Publishing during an attempted takeover. The group did not say who it had acquired the shares in the private company from. John Wiley & Sons acquired Blackwell Publishing for £572m in November last year. The £33.4m profit, helped push Informa's unadjusted profit up by more than 130%, from £29.5 to £68.9m.

Revenues at Taylor & Francis' STM and Humanities units increased by 9% to £151.2m in the first half-year to 30th June 2007. Adjusted operating profit increased by 25% to £37.4m and on a pro forma basis by 27%. The STM division pushed sales up from £86m to £90.7m, with adjusted operating profit up to £24.7m, compared with £21.2m a year earlier. Its Humanities & Social Sciences division raised sales to £60.5m compared with £52.7m, with operating profit up by £4m to £12.7m.

Informa's total publishing sales, at £205.5m accounted for 39% of the first half year revenues. On a pro forma basis this represented an increase of 6%. Informa said that more than half of the revenue, 62%, was subscription based.

David Gilbertson, chief executive, said that all three divisions (Academic & Scientific, Professional and Commercial) translated good pro forma revenue growth into even greater adjusted operating profit increases. The Academic & Scientific division had resilient pro forma revenue growth of 7%, translating into pro forma adjusted operating profit growth of 27%.

Gilbertson said that its Academic & Scientific was continuing to benefit from high subscription renewals and the increased use of electronic media. He added: "Current trading across all divisions and revenue streams is good. We are seeing good demand for our information across all formats and benefiting from additional revenue growth by connecting formats, markets and territories."

Chairman Peter Rigby said: "The need for quality information, and the value people place on it, is growing. We are seeing good demand for our products and services across all formats and are benefiting from additional revenue growth by connecting formats, markets and territories. This has resulted in a strong first half and we are confident of another successful full year for Informa."

 

Financial Philip Jones blackwell stm Informa Taylor & Francis John Wiley