Publisher Huveaux sees shares slump after profits fall
Publisher and media group Huveaux saw its shares slump by nearly a fifth today after revealing full-year profits would be below market expectations.
The AIM-listed group, whose publications include political reference books and school revision guides, said pre-tax profits for the year to December 31 had more than doubled to around £2.4m (€3.5m).
This was below analysts’ hopes of £3.3m (€4.8m) after a string of factors hit the firm, including the EU parliament’s rejection of the proposed EU Commission.
As a result of this, Huveaux was forced to postpone its Eurosource reference books and subscription website featuring information on the EU Parliament and Commission, meaning sales of £250,000 (€363,000) were deferred to the next financial year.
The London-based company reported a “disappointing” result from its education and training division after manual and video sales fell by 13%. The arm includes Lonsdale, which publishes school work books and Fenman, which publishes training manuals.
Huveaux said immediate action was being taken to address the problems, including a new strategy to target bigger customers.
The group, which employs around 200 staff, also moved its UK political division from three offices into one site in Westminster Tower during the year, incurring costs of £1.2m (€1.7m). Although this contributed to the lower than expected results, Huveaux said it would generate significant benefits going forward.
Stockbroker Baird described the trading statement as “surprisingly poor”.
It said the extent of the shortfall within the education business had come as a surprise and that it would be reducing its expectations for the division by about 15%.
However, Huveaux was upbeat about its future, saying the business would benefit from changes such as its investment in new London offices.
Chairman John van Kuffeler said: “The outlook for 2005 is for another year of growth.”
Full-year results are due to be released on March 7. Turnover more than trebled to around £14.4m (€20.9m) during the year.
Shares fell 11.5p to 54.5p today.
