Press Releases

Events : Emap’s Favourite Son

The more immediate concern, as Emap’s financial advisers Citi and Lazard, the investment banks, embark on their review, is that the group is not left with orphan assets that nobody wants.
 
It is understood that of the various approaches and proposals the group has received that have prompted the review, none is about acquiring the company in its entirety.
 
Inquiries have come from a mixture of trade rivals and private-equity investors, thought to be keen on Emap’s events arm and radio operations. It is thought the consumer-magazine division holds less appeal.

That reflects the fortunes of those respective businesses. In the business-to-business division, which includes the events, sales and operating profits both rose 11% last year.
Said one industry source: “That business is the favourite son. It’s going really well and they’re doing some great things with it.”
 
By the same token, at the consumer-magazines division sales dropped 5% and operating profits 11%. That is where Emap has failed to get a grip on how to deal with a rapidly evolving market.
 
The preponderance of naked women available to look at for free on the internet has put titles such as FHM in a spin. At its peak, FHM was selling more than 600,000 copies per month. Now sales are less than half that.

Some of the group’s specialist magazines are also faring badly, particularly the motoring-related titles, where advertising has largely shifted to the internet. Emap has tried to address that – a revamped website for Motorcycle News has proved a hit – but progress has been patchy.
 
By Matthew Goodman – www.timesonline.co.uk
 
Link to full article - http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article2157896.ece