Fri, 27 Jul 2012 | DIVISION SALE
Reed Elsevier is reportedly stepping up its plans to dispose of its non-core businesses.
The Anglo-Dutch publishing and events group showed a strong rise in interim pre-tax profits, with sales rising from £2.9 billion to £3 billion in the six months to 30 June this year. This was slightly ahead of expectations, while pre-tax profits jumped from £476 million to £666 million.
Following from its strong performance figures, the firm is divesting more of its advertising-dependent businesses and re-focusing its efforts on online subscription and research products.
Claudio Aspesi, an analyst at Berstein Research, told the Financial Times: “A divestiture of significant parts of the portfolio (the exhibition business or LexisNexis Legal & Professional) would probably trigger a re-rating of the stock.”
He added that the progressive break-up of the company could result in a 20 to 30 per cent increase in the firm's value.
Among the titles that are being put up for sale are the entertainment industry magazine Variety and some of the company's Australian titles. Any proceeds from the sale are due to be put towards a share buyback, with Reed already providing £158 million in cash to fund the buyback programme in the first half of the year.
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