PR Newswire revenue fell 6.4% in the first half of 2014 to £98.3M ($165.4M) as currency rates dragged down underlying growth of 2.6%.

UK-based parent company UBM said continued slow growth in the US text press release market contrasted with increases in multimedia, its low-cost iReach platform aimed to compete with PRWeb, and monitoring service MediaVantage.

Operating profit at PRN declined 4.7% to £22.4M ($37.4M).

Across UBM operations – PR represents 27% of revenue – revenues fell 7.9% to £361M ($602M) while profit jumped to £95M. Debt stands at £562.5M against £110.4M in assets.

UBM estimates PRN owns 39% of the premium news wire market, compared with 32% for Business Wire and 22% for MarketWired. Seventy percent of its revenue comes from the US and international business is seen as key to its growth.