Publishing group sells Bromsgrove operation in £30m deal

Publishing group Centaur Media has agreed the sale of its Bromsgrove-based Home Interest division in a deal worth more than £30m.

The media company has reached an agreement with Future Publishing Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Future Plc.

Under the terms, Future will acquire the entire issued share capitals of Ascent Publishing and Centaur Consumer Exhibitions (the Home Interest Business) for £32m, less £1.76m (which represents the net amount of cash-backed deferred income and associated costs and other identified debt like items).

For the year ended December 2016, the Home Interest Business made a material contribution to Centaur’s revenues and profits. Revenues attributable to the Home Interest Business were £12.9m out of the total revenues for the group of £72.5m.

During the same period, EBITDA attributable to the Home Interest Business was £3.3m out of adjusted EBITDA for the group of £12.4m and the Home Interest Business had pre-tax profits of £1.3m.

At year-end, the gross assets attributable to the Home Interest Business were £4.3m out of the total gross assets for the group of £113m.

Centaur said the disposal would materially reduce the group’s earnings but in turn, would significantly strengthen its cash position.

The Home Interest Business consists of three key brands: Homebuilding & Renovating; Period Living and Real Homes, providing seven exhibitions in addition to print and digital assets. In 2016, the exhibitions attracted approximately 94,000 visitors and 1,734 exhibitors providing the Home Interest Business with multiple opportunities throughout the year to successfully engage with its audience.

The Home Interest Business is the only part of Centaur that has a B2C proposition. As such, it is considered non-core.

Centaur said the disposal would allow it to further focus itself as a B2B business intelligence and events media group offering a growing number of higher value-added products and services to its increasingly professional customer base.

At the same time of the disposal, the group confirmed the acquisition of MarketMakers, one of the UK’s leading integrated marketing services businesses, for an initial consideration of £13.4m with a deferred earnout amount based on EBITDA performance.

Andria Vidler, Chief Executive, Centaur, said: “These transactions are a major step forward in the continuing transformation of Centaur into a B2B focussed business, providing our increasingly professional customer base with a range of higher value-added products and services.

“It is the right time for our Home Interest business to fulfil its potential under new ownership and we wish the management team every success.”