Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 7809G

Wilmington Group Plc

18 May 2011

 



18 May 2011 

Wilmington Group plc

Interim Management Statement

Wilmington Group plc, the professional information and training group today issues its interim management statement for the period from 1 January 2011 until the date of this announcement.

Trading Performance

Overall trading performance in the quarter ended 31 March 2011 has been in line with our expectations.  Revenue in the nine months to 31 March 2011 increased by 8.2%.  On a like for like basis, excluding acquisitions, revenue increased by 2.2%.  Like for like profits (using Adjusted EBITA¹ but taken before acquisition profits and the cost of incremental investment spend) were 13.6% ahead of the same period in the prior year.  Axco, our insurance information business acquired in September is performing in line with our expectations.  The level of investment spend, which we have previously announced is also in line with our expectations.

The historically significant final quarter is seeing tighter market conditions and slower than anticipated order intake in our print publishing and legal training businesses.  Our other businesses are meeting expectations, consequently we now expect the full year outcome will be broadly in line with that achieved last year.

Outlook

Our Publishing & Information businesses have performed well throughout the economic downturn proving resilient and maintaining or growing market positions.  We are making good progress in migrating from print to online products, with over 70% of publishing revenues now generated digitally, and the improved technology and enhanced content in our information products is generating excellent returns. However, the decline in some legacy print products has accelerated, accordingly we plan to increase our level of investment in new digital products over the next 12 to 24 months and anticipate that in 3 to 5 years our publishing revenues will be almost entirely digital.  As previously highlighted, digital revenue streams, while inherently of higher quality, are recognised over the life of the subscription in contrast to print products where revenues are recognised on publication.

In our Training & Events businesses, while Matchett Group continues to perform well, we do not expect recent more difficult market conditions for the legal training business to improve materially in the near future. We continue to invest in the overseas expansion of our Banking and Compliance businesses and in the development of the flexible Legal Practice Course.  These investment projects are progressing well and can be expected to be profitable in 2012/13 and beyond.

The group has good cash flow, a healthy balance sheet and is at an advanced stage in renewing its banking facilities (not originally due until March 2012) which we expect to conclude before the end of our financial year.  Unsurprisingly, the new banking arrangements will be more expensive than current facilities and will give rise to an increased amortisation cost of facility fees within finance charges.

Despite the challenges highlighted above we believe the Group has strong positions in important professional markets that offer a sound platform from which to make progress in 2011/12.  Underlying economic conditions, particularly in the UK, are difficult but we remain excited by the potential of our business to provide growth over the longer term.

Note¹  Adjusted EBITA - profits before net finance costs, tax, amortisation, share based payments and non recurring items.

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For further information, please contact:

Wilmington Group Plc             Charles Brady, Chief Executive   Basil Brookes, Finance Director	020 7422 6800
Weber Shandwick Financial	020 7067 0700
Nick Oborne

Notes to Editors

Wilmington Group plc is one of the UK's leading providers of information and training for professional business markets. The Group provides training, arranges industry events and publishes directories, databases, magazines and special reports for a variety of markets including the legal, health, accounting, pension, charities, financial and insurance sectors. Capitalised at approximately £124 million, Wilmington floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1995.

 

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