Reed Elsevier (NYSE:RUK), the Dutch B2B media giant, has reported its first half 2007 earnings, and net income rose to about $637.4 million, from $444.6 million a year earlier. Revenues was little changed at $4.6 billion, held back by the weaker U.S. dollar, reports Bloomberg. Online and electronic service are driving the growth at the company, which owns Lexis-Nexis, Reed Business Media (Variety and others) and others.
Digital and online information products grew by 12 percent and now account for 45 percent of total revenues. Sales at the company’s B2B publishing unit rose 1 percent with online services up 20 percent and print falling 3 percent. Online recruitment ads grew 38 percent in the period.
Thomson Financial: CEO Crispin Davis said he is seeking acquisitions to boost the B2B division. Over the past nine months Reed has bought BuyerZone in U.S. and Emedia in UK, and noth deals were under 100 million GBP, but Davis said he was willing to consider larger acquisitions. Davis said he wanted to move more of Reed’s print business online where revenues are growing more rapidly, insulated from fluctuations in the ad market.
Over the past nine months Reed has bought BuyerZone — a US online business for matching suppliers to business customers — and Emedia, a UK online marketing business.Earnings release | Analyst presentation PDF.
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