International business intelligence and events specialist, London-based Centaur Media, has announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2023.
The company reported a revenue reduction of 3% to £19.3m due primarily, it said, to macroeconomic related headwinds and a fall in non-strategic advertising, recruitment and marketing solutions revenues. Events revenues dipped slightly to £1.7m from £1.8m in the 2022 report.
Adjusted EBITDA overall increased to £3.5m (H1 2022: £3.4m). The company said its strategic emphasis was on building repeat and recurring revenue with improving renewal rates and blue-chip customer base.
The financial statement said the company was well placed to generate full year revenue at last year's level whilst achieving its Margin Acceleration Plan (MAP23) EBITDA objectives to raise EBITDA to over £10m at an adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 23% by the end of 2023.
Swag Mukerji, chief executive officer, commented: “We are proud to be on track to deliver our MAP23 EBITDA objectives, despite the macroeconomic backdrop and remain encouraged to see the growth in our Flagship 4 brands and Group profitability.
“We are positioning Centaur to deliver targeted connectivity with timely and deeper insight to customers and we continue to develop our learning and consultancy expertise in a market consistently characterised by change. These underlying trends and our focus on the Flagship 4 are driving improved profitability and give us a solid platform for growth. Meanwhile, our resilient revenue streams and balance sheet strength will ensure that Centaur is well positioned to deliver MAP23 despite any wider macroeconomic uncertainty.”
Growth in H1 2023 was primarily driven by the benefit of The Lawyer Awards, which took place in June 2023 (vs. being held in July 2022).
With a small decline in revenue in the period, management said it had carefully managed the cost base. And believes that this will ensure that the business is best positioned to withstand any further macroeconomic uncertainty during the remainder of the year.
The Group reported profit after taxation is £1.9m, an improvement from last year's profit to 30 June 2022 of £0.7m.
Centaur had a net cash balance of £8.8m at 30 June, after paying out £8.0m of special and ordinary dividends during the period.
