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05 March

Preliminary Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2009

Disciplined and resilient performance in tough year

Key Results

  2009 2008
Revenue £847.6m £887.0m
Adjusted operating profit £171.2m £173.5m
Adjusted EPS 55.1p 57.0p
Dividend per share 24.2p 23.8p
Statutory group operating (loss)/profit £(25.8)m £107.6m
Statutory profit after tax £81.8m £82.7m
Statutory EPS 30.9p 31.5p
Statutory EPS (diluted) 30.5p 30.8p

Financial Highlights

  • Strong margins maintained; adjusted operating profit flat
  • Robust operating cash flow; cash conversion up to 102.0% (2008 - 100.1%)
  • Continuing cost discipline - headcount reduced by 479 during 2009
  • Emerging markets revenue up 35.9%: c.20% of UBM adjusted operating profits from China,
    India & Brazil (2008 - c.15%)
  • £46.5m payment in March 2010 to settle major tax issues, £135.2m tax creditor release
  • £153m impairment charge reflects structural pressures on print-heavy units
  • Exceptional charge of £16.5m for restructuring costs
  • Positive FX contribution: at constant currency, revenues declined 15%, adjusted operating profit
    down 13%
  • Balance sheet remains strong - debt / EBITDA 1.2 times; cash & undrawn facilities of £467.1m

Trading Highlights

Resilient Events performance: 51% of adjusted operating profits (2008 - 47%)

  • Revenues down 1.5%, adjusted operating profit up 6.1%, margins up 2.2 points to 30.3%
  • Very strong H2 biennial tradeshow performance; revenues up 55% on 2007

Solid performance in Data, Services & Online: 22% of adjusted operating profits (2008 - 18%)

  • Revenues up 3.4%, adjusted operating profit up 22%, margins up 2.5 points to 16.3%

Active management of Print - magazine portfolio: 5% of adjusted operating profits (2008 - 14%)

  • Revenues down 23.1%, adjusted operating profit down 62.8%, margins down 5.7 points to 5.4%

Robust performance in Targeting, Distribution & Monitoring: 26% of adjusted operating profits
(2008 - 25%); revenues up 4.6%, adjusted operating profit up 3.5%, margins down 0.3 points to 27.8%

Outlook
Overall, the outlook for underlying performance in 2010 is stable; UBM is well positioned for medium
term growth in Events; Data Services & Online; and Targeting, Distribution & Monitoring which now account for 95% of UBM’s adjusted operating profit before corporate operations.

Events: Robust performance expected to continue, especially in high growth emerging markets

  • 12 month forward bookings for top 20 annual events down 1.7%

Data, Services & Online: Modest revenue growth anticipated in 2010

  • Further investment to support print / digital transition pressures margins slightly

Print - magazines: Continued management towards more focused print portfolio in medium term

  • Further revenue falls and title closures anticipated but margins stable

Targeting, Distribution & Monitoring: On track for modest revenue growth in 2010

  • Performance driven by multimedia products and international
  • Margins in mid-20s as investment continues

David Levin, Chief Executive Officer of United Business Media Limited said:

“UBM produced a disciplined and resilient performance in 2009. We continued to make progress both strategically and operationally in all of our divisions. We have reshaped our businesses towards market opportunities that provide sustainable growth revenue streams and we are increasingly well positioned to take advantage of global economic recovery. The Board has declared a second interim dividend of 18.2p, bringing the full year dividend to 24.2p, a 1.7% increase on 2008 (2008 - 23.8p).”

“Our Events business traded well in 2009, contributing more than half our adjusted operating profits and demonstrating the growing importance of market-leading face to face events in the digital age. Our large tradeshows fared particularly well with our top 20 annual events – which contribute around half of our events revenue and over two thirds of our events adjusted operating profits – growing nearly 12%. As expected our second half biennial shows in Asia and Europe were notably strong.”

“The performance across our Data, Services & Online business was satisfactory with margins improving by 2.5 percentage points. In Targeting, Monitoring & Distribution we maintained our share of US news distribution market and held our margins while market volumes shrank 3.1%. We continue to grow our multimedia news release business and to broaden our product portfolio to address the opportunities offered by the web as well as expanding our international operations.”

“We continued to progress UBM’s strategic development. Our long term strategy to build our business in emerging economies is proving successful, with China, India and Brazil now contributing over 20% of UBM’s adjusted operating profits and nearly 14% of our revenues, representing revenue and adjusted operating profit growth of more than 35%. Our revenues from the rest of Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and Middle East amounted to a further £41.0m, up 17.1% on 2008. These territories contributed 4.5% of UBM’s adjusted operating profits in 2009 (2008 - 3%).”

“We are pleased to have resolved our decade-long dialogue with the UK tax authorities over the tax payable on the sale of our Regional Newspapers business in 1998. We have agreed to make a payment of £46.5m in settlement of this and a number of other tax issues. This, together with the resolution of a number of other tax matters, has resulted in a release of £135.2m of our previous tax creditor.”

“We go into 2010 with our strategy clearly defined and with the operational and financial resources in place to implement that strategy. Despite the tentative and uneven economic recovery we see across our markets, we believe we are very well positioned for profitable growth in the medium term.”*

David Levin
Chief Executive Officer, UBM
5 March 2010

* A detailed outlook by UBM business segment is given in Section 2.5.

Note: We provide a number of adjusted financial measures to facilitate comparison of performance across periods. Definitions of these measures are provided in Section 1.

Contacts

Media  
Peter Bancroft Director of Communications
E-mail communications@ubm.com
Direct telephone +44 20 7921 5961
   
Chris Barrie Citigate Dewe Rogerson
E-mail chris.barrie@citigatedr.co.uk
Direct telephone +44 20 7282 2943
Mobile +44 796 872 72 89
   
Analysts / Investors  
E-mail investorrelations@ubm.com
Direct telephone +44 20 7921 5095
Robert Gray +44 20 7921 5019
Andrew Crow +44 20 7921 5940

A live webcast of the results presentation will be made available from UBM’s website from around 8.30am, 5 March 2010. To access the webcast please go to www.ubm.com.

A video recording of the webcast will also be accessible from UBM’s website, www.ubm.com.

Notes to Editors

About UBM
UBM is a leading global provider of events; data, marketing and information products; print products; and targeting, distribution and monitoring services to specialist business communities. Our 5,800 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

For more information, go to www.ubm.com

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