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Press Releases

Final Results

"decent results in a demanding year", dividends unchanged

Quarto (London: QRT), the London-based international book publisher, announces an adjusted pre-tax profit of £6.9m, down only 10% despite revenues 15% lower in constant currency terms and in-line with market expectations.

Financial Highlights

Adjusted excludes amortization of non-current intangibles and non-recurring items.

Commercial Highlights

• Publishing increased its adjusted operating profit by 7% to £6.7m on flat revenues of £70.1m.
• The consolidation of the US warehouse and back office functions is now almost complete and is on track to deliver the expected financial benefits.
• International Co-Edition Publishing adjusted operating profit was down 22% at £5.0m on revenues 15% lower at £36.5m.
• This deterioration occurred primarily at Regent, the print-broking business in Hong Kong; otherwise, it mainly reflected market upheaval in 2008 Q4.
• There was no corporate activity during the period, though not for want of trying. Now that vendor price expectations have moderated, a more active corporate role in 2010 is anticipated.

Laurence Orbach, Chairman and CEO, commented: "The economies in our major markets seem a little more settled, albeit generally at a lower level of activity, and we hope for gains in 2010. The most we can really say is that, at this stage, things look a little brighter than 12 months ago. The book business is adjusting and evolving both to the economic, and the digital, challenges, and we would be surprised if our performance did not improve during the course of the year. "

Notes for Editors:

Quarto is an international book publisher and producer with two principal strands of activity: its Publishing segment publishes books, under imprints owned by the Group, in the US, Australia and the UK; and its International Co-Edition Publishing segment creates books that are licensed to other publishers for publication under their own imprints in many languages around the world.

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