FHM publisher claims outlook is bright
Media group Emap today reported strong sales for its UK titles and offered investors hope that the worst of its trading woes in France may be over.
The group said underlying sales of UK magazines including FHM, heat and Empire were likely to be 5% ahead of a year ago while advertising revenues continued to improve.
At the same time, there had been “no further deterioration” in France where the launch of rival fortnightly titles into the TV listings sector was depressing revenues.
Emap said turnover from its Tele Poche and Tele Star titles in France were expected to be 20% lower during the six months to September 30. Both are due to be relaunched.
Investors were braced for an 8% drop in turnover from all of its consumer magazines in France, but gains from Auto Plus and other car magazines had limited the decline in advertising revenues to 4%.
In the UK, Emap said revenues from its men’s weekly title, Zoo, were ahead of plan with more than 200,000 copies sold each week since its launch in January.
Advance bookings by UK advertisers in October pointed to growth slightly ahead of a year ago, but there was no sign that higher spending on marketing in the broadcasting sector in France was flowing through to consumer magazines.
Emap said it remained on target to deliver annual growth in line with its expectations, but this would now be tilted towards the second half of the financial year.
