LONDON--Reed Elsevier PLC (REL.LN) Thursday reaffirmed its
outlook for the year, even as the Anglo-Dutch publishing and
exhibitions company posted a fall in first-half profit on lower
revenue.
Net profit in the six months to June 30 fell to GBP454 million
($773 million) from GBP509 million in the year-earlier period.
Revenue fell 6% to GBP2.85 billion from GBP3.03 billion, lower
than analyst expectations of GBP3.01 billion polled by FactSet. It
recorded a fall in revenue for its scientific, technical and medial
division as the company shifts its formats to digital from print.
The risk solutions and information business division's results were
hit by currency movements and asset divestments.
Operating profit rose to GBP697 million from GBP684 million.
The group said underlying trends in the business "continue to be
positive" as it enters the second half of the year and said the
full-year outlook is unchanged.
"We remain confident that we will deliver another year of
underlying revenue, profit, and earnings growth in 2014," said
Chief Executive Erik Engstrom.
More than 80% of the company's revenue comes from electronic or
face-to-face formats, the group says, whose brands include the
legal research product LexisNexis and the magazine New
Scientist.
Reed Elsevier, co-headquartered in the U.K. and the Netherlands
as parent companies Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV,
respectively, said it remains on track to deliver on its strategic
and financial priorities.
Reed Elsevier PLC declared an interim dividend of 7 pence, up 5%
from a year earlier.
Reed Elsevier shares in London closed Wednesday at 939 pence,
valuing the company at GBP10.76 billion. The combined market
capitalization of Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV is
approximately GBP19 billion, the group says.
Write to Simon Zekaria at simon.zekaria@wsj.com
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