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09/02/2007 - Yell 9-month revenue tops forecasts
Directories publisher Yell said on Thursday its nine-month revenue and underlying profit rose more than forecast and that it was on track to meet year-end expectations.
The company, which owns Yellow Pages, said revenue in the nine months to end-December rose 29.1 percent to 1.433 billion pounds with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation up 35.2 percent to 473.1 million pounds.
Yell's revenue had been expected to hit 1.4 billion pounds, according to a Reuters poll of 10 analysts, with EBITDA expected to rise 30 percent to 455 million pounds, from 350.6 million pounds last year.
"We have again delivered strong organic growth with particularly strong growth in our online channels," said Yell Chief Executive John Condron in a statement.
"In the UK, we are confident that the future relaxation of regulation will give us greater flexibility in the competitive print market," he added.
Yell's Chief Financial Officer John Davis said the company's underlying earnings per share, excluding the impact of issuing shares for the acquisition last year of Spanish directories business TPI, had risen 13.2 percent at constant exchange rates.
Yell said its revenue rose 3.5 percent to 510 million pounds, underpinned by a 62.5 percent increase in Yell.com revenue. However, revenue from UK printed directories slipped 2.7 percent to 424.2 million pounds as the number of print advertisers fell by 3.2 percent to 329,000 due to competition.
The company reiterated guidance for UK revenue growth during the current year of 3 percent, driven entirely by Yell.com.
U.S. revenue grew 13.9 percent to 704.5 million pounds, with the company reiterating guidance for its U.S. Yellow Book business to post organic growth of 10 percent in the year.
Shares in Yell, which publishers classified advertising directories in the UK, U.S., Spain and Latin America, closed at 621-1/2 pence on Wednesday, valuing the company at around 4.8 billion pounds. The shares have outperformed the FTSE media sector by around 6 percent over the past year.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2007-02-08T074835Z_01_LAD002777_RTRUKOC_0_UK-YELL-RESULTS.xml
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