Reed Elsevier raises £824m through placing

30th Jul 2009 07:18

Shares in specialist publisher Reed Elsevier fell sharply after it announced plans to raise about £800m through the issue on new shares equal to 10% of its capital through a placing to pay off debts after an acquisition.The group raised £824m gross through the issue of 9.9% of the issued ordinary share capital in London and Amsterdam at prices of 405p and €7.08 respectively.Reed acquired the operator of the Lexis Nexis news archive system ChoicePoint for $4.1bn and had intended to pay for this with the sale of its business information division, but shelved the plans because of the economic environment. It revealed a rise in revenues and adjusted earnings. Revenues in half year to June 2009 climbed 25% to £3.06bn, with adjusted earnings per share rising by 21% to 24.5p. Profit before tax fell to £188m from £393m.The firm said professional information businesses were relatively robust, while advertising and promotion markets were significantly impacted by global recession. "This robust set of first half results demonstrates the quality of the majority of our business in tough economic conditions," said chairman Anthony Habgood. "Our priorities are to manage through this environment whilst developing strategies to emerge from this recession stronger and with greater focus on growing products and markets."