Informa cautious after profits fall

2nd Mar 2010 07:51

Specialist publisher Informa said its outlook remains uncertain after tough economic conditions resulted in a fall in profits in 2009.Pre-tax profits at the company, whose titles include the shipping newspaper Lloyd's List, fell to £96.5m in the year to December 31 from £109m the previous year on revenues that slipped to £1.22bn from £1.28bn. While publishing revenues were up by 2% on an organic basis, events and training sales fell by 27% as big customers cut back on costs, resulting in a 14% fall in organic revenues overall. The reduction in events and training sales was partly due to a pro-active decision to run fewer events, Informa said.Staff numbers were reduced by 8% during the year, Informa said.'We remain cautious and are running our businesses accordingly,' the company said. 'However, Informa is in a stronger position than it was this time last year to deal with challenges and also benefit from the multiple opportunities available to the group.'