Centaur Regulatory News (CAU)

Centaur Media plc

Incorporated in England and Wales

Registration number: 04948078

LEI: 2138005WK87G7DQRQI62

ISIN: GB0034291418

22 January 2025

Centaur Media Plc

("Centaur" or the "Group")

Trading Update - 2024 performance ahead of consensus

Centaur, an international provider of business intelligence, learning and specialist consultancy, provides a trading update ahead of publishing its results for the full year ended 31 December 2024 ("FY24") in March.

Trading update

Trading, since our last update in October, has been ahead of our outlook and the Board now expects the Group to achieve revenue for FY24 of c. £35m at an adjusted EBITDA1 margin of approximately 16%, ahead of consensus2.

This outcome is despite the marketing sector headwinds in 2024 caused by macro-economic challenges which had a particular impact on the Econsultancy and Oystercatchers brands, as well as Xeim's advertising revenue. Centaur's performance in 2024 was underpinned by growth in revenue from The Lawyer of 7% and from the MW Mini MBA of 5%.

Centaur continues to maintain a robust net cash3 balance of £8.9m as at 31 December 2024 (£8.9m as at 30 June 2024) which will support the maximisation of shareholder value.

As highlighted in December, a review of Centaur's business operations and strategy is currently underway.

Martin Rowland, Executive Chair, commented:

"It is pleasing to see the Group's performance showing better than expected results for 2024. Since taking on the role of Executive Chair earlier this month, I have started a review of Centaur's business units and their brands. Our focus will be on defining the strategy and enhancing the reputation of each brand within Centaur to maximise shareholder value while remaining our customers' partner of choice for business intelligence and learning in the marketing and legal sectors."

-Ends-

1 Adjusted EBITDA is adjusted operating profit before depreciation and amortisation. Adjusted results exclude adjusting items, such as amortisation of acquired intangible assets, as detailed in note 4 of the Interim Report for the period ended 30 June 2024.

2 Consensus from the analysts' latest coverage following the October trading update was revenue of £34.0m and adjusted EBITDA of £5.1m, an adjusted EBITDA margin of 15%.

3 Net cash is the total of cash and cash equivalents and short-term deposits. There are no overdrafts or borrowings in the Group.

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Note to editors

Centaur is an international provider of business intelligence, learning and specialist consultancy that helps ambitious leaders see around corners and deliver change in the Marketing and Legal verticals. Our suite of brands includes The Lawyer, MW Mini MBA, Econsultancy, Marketing Week, Festival of Marketing and Influencer Intelligence that provide deep sector expertise across the Legal and Marketing industries based on our customers' needs.