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Reed Elsevier plans £1.3bn mags sell-off
Nick Goodway21 Feb 2008
Magazine titles ranging from New Scientist to Computer Weekly in this country and from Electronic News to Variety in the United States have been put up for sale by publishing giant Reed Elsevier.
The sale of Reed Business Information, one of the world's largest publishers of business-to-business magazines, is a huge milestone in the transformation of the Anglo-Dutch business from a paper publisher to online provider.
The business could fetch up to £1.3 billion, according to analysts, and is likely to attract interest from all sorts of bidders including rival publishers and private - equity firms to specialists interested in single titles.
At the same time, Reed has launched a recommended $4.1 billion (£2.1 billion) for ChoicePoint, a leading online data and analytics provider to the insurance industry.
Chief executive Sir Crispin Davis said: "Broadly, print publishing is flat while online is growing at around 11% a year. Seven years ago Reed was 100% print, today it is 50% online and within three years that will rise to 75%. Everything we have announced today is designed to accelerate our rate of growth."
He also confirmed cost-cutting measures designed to save £245 million over the next four years but refused to comment on reports that this could lead to up to 1000 job losses. "There will be jobs going," he said. "But we intend to tell our employees about them first."
Other titles up for sale include one of Britain's most profitable magazines, Estates Gazette, Flight International and Caterer and Hotelkeeper. The business also includes the Kellysearch directories listing producers, suppliers and services around the world. Reed will keep its growing exhibitions business but is proceeding with the sale of its controversial defence exhibitions business.
Reed Business Information made profits of £260 million on revenues of £906 million last year. Davis said he was open to any kind of offers: "Nothing's ruled in and nothing's ruled out. This is a quality business and we may have to be patient about it in order to achieve the right price." Last month Reed returned £2.5 billion to shareholders after the sale of its US education business Harcourt.
Reed revenues rose 2% to £4.58 billion last year, with headline operating profits up 5% to £1.14 billion. The dividend rises 14% to 18.1p.
