Reed Business Information operating profit up in 2011

Reed Business Information recorded underlying growth in operating profit of 15 per cent in 2011, but experienced "continued weakness in print advertising", it was reported today.

According to figures for last year, released by Reed Elsevier today, adjusted operating profit for its business-to-business publisher RBI rose from £89 million in 2010 to £110 million in 2011, with underlying growth of 15 per cent.

Revenue fell from £718 million in 2010 to £695 million, but achieved underlying growth of 1 per cent, the results show.

The company reported "strong growth in data services mostly offset by continued weakness in print advertising".

"The major data services businesses, which accounted for 25 per cent of RBI revenues in 2011, delivered underlying revenue growth of 9 per cent, with strong growth in ICIS, Bankers Almanac and XpertHR, partially offset by Reed Construction Data serving the challenged US construction industry."

The full report adds: "RBI built on its existing data services offerings with three acquisitions made in the year. The acquisition of a majority stake in CBI China brings a market leading petrochemical and energy information business to complement ICIS. The combination of Accuity, acquired in November, with Bankers Almanac creates leading positions in payment efficiency, transaction compliance and bank counterparty assessment for the financial services industry. Ascend, a leading provider of online aircraft and valuation data to the aviation industry, complements the Flightglobal aerospace business.

"A number of disposals were also made during the course of the year, including UK road transport and computing titles and the QSS magazine subscription fulfillment business."

Looking ahead, the company says it expects to see a continuation in "good growth in data services" but this will be "offset by softness in print advertising".

"RBI will have a full year contribution from the recent acquisitions of CBI China, Ascend and Accuity, partially offset by the effects of small disposals. In the current economic environment, we remain cautious on the near term outlook for advertising and marketing based revenues."

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).