By Greg Hazley
Cision posted an 18 percent dip in third-quarter revenue of SEK 265M (about $39.5M) compared with 2009 as CEO Hans Gieskes said North American margins remain "very solid” while its turnaround effort in Europe is "progressing according to plan.”
For the nine months of 2010, Sweden-based Cision’s revenue was down nearly 26% over 2009 as the company unloaded unprofitable businesses, revamped its operations, and was affected by a negative currency impact. Net profit swung positive to SEK 20M ($3M) from negative SEK 309M (-$46M) for Q3 of 2009.
Gieskes said the company’s main focus is to return to organic growth on the strength of its CisionPoint PR software, a push which will include sales and marketing spending in addition to new services.
In North America, Q3 revenue was essentially flat – SEK 189M, compared with 190M for Q3 of ’09. Its decision to outsource broadcast monitoring to Critical Mention will help reduce fixed costs, Cision said.
The company reiterated its belief that the PR software market will consolidate over the next few years because such services are "complex and expensive to develop." |