By Greg Hazley
Sweden-based PR software company Cision AB said second quarter organic growth climbed two percent in the U.S. but slid three percent overall as revenue dipped to SEK 242M ($38.3M) from 285M a year earlier.
Currency fluctuations hit Cision’s revenue in Q2 to the negative effect of SEK 38M, more than triple the effect of a year earlier. Eighty percent of the company’s revenue is generated in foreign currency.
Hans Gieskes, CEO of the PR services company, said Q2 revenue fell mainly due to negative currency effect and to a lesser extent from negative organic growth and the impact from acquisitions and divestments.
Q2 was a quarter of “strong profitability” in North America, he said, citing the region’s third straight quarter of organic growth, despite struggles at its media monitoring-dependent Canada operation, which is slated for a repositioning.
The U.S. is Cision’s top market with 140.7M in revenue in Q2, down from 162.7M for the same period of 2010.
North American revenue overall slipped to 171M from 203M a year earlier. U.S. organic growth of two percent was down a notch from Q2 2010’s 3% increase.
Gieskes said divesting its costly Monitor and Analyze business in Finland has improved margins in Europe and Cision reported improved margins and profit for the region.
Cision’s European finance chief and managing director, Tosh Bruce-Morgan, was also named chief financial officer of the company, taking up the post in September. He is credited with a key role in turning around the European operation.
Overall profit ticked down to SEK 30M from 35M for Q2 of 2010.
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