Trading Statement

RNS Number : 6116V

St. Ives PLC

11 August 2015

 

11 August 2015                                     

St Ives plc ("St Ives" or the "Group")

Year end trading update

St Ives, the international marketing services group, is today providing a year end trading update ahead of the announcement of its full year results which will be released on 6 October 2015.

The board is pleased to report that the overall results for the financial year ended 31 July 2015 are expected to be in line with current market expectations.

Trading across our Strategic Marketing segment has continued to be positive and significantly ahead of the equivalent period last year. The segment continues successfully to extend its range of services, primarily through acquisition. The integration of the recently acquired business, Solstice Consulting (a Chicago based digital consultancy focussing on mobile-first product design and engineering services, acquired in March 2015), is progressing well. As planned, we continue to invest in additional headcount, both in the UK and internationally, to support our plans for growth in this segment over the medium term.

Trading conditions within our Marketing Activation segment have been challenging due to the ongoing pressures within the grocery retail market. As a result we expect revenue within the segment to reduce versus the prior year although we expect margin to be maintained as new business wins, cost reductions and efficiency improvements help to mitigate this pressure.

Within our Books business, as reported in our half year results, we have experienced an improvement in sentiment within the physical book market with book volumes stable for the first time in a number of years. We expect revenue from our books business to be broadly in line with the prior year and for margin to be maintained.

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For further information contact:

St Ives plc                                                        020 7928 8844

Matt Armitage, CEO

Brad Gray, CFO

MHP Communications                                     020 3128 8100

John Olsen / Giles Robinson / Gina Bell

 

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