Cision AB, acknowledging an “eventful” second quarter in which it settled a major copyright claim from Dow Jones, reported revenue for the period increased 7.4%
to SEK 260M ($37.5M), although operating profit plummeted 130% to a loss of SEK 9M, about $1.3M.
Cision said it took at SEK 45M charge ($6.5M) to cover the costs of the settlement with Dow Jones, as well as legal fees and the cost of implementing production changes related to the copyright claim.
CEO Gans Gieskes said the company’s ongoing “transformation” and focus on growth is paying off with gains in the U.S. and Europe.
The PR software provider’s U.S. revenue grew 11% during Q2 as investments in sales and its services have paid off. Its struggling Canadian operations saw revenue fall 5%, down from average losses of 13% over the past year. Total revenue for North America rose nearly 20% to SEK 205M ($29.6M) as organic growth swung positive to 8% over Q1 of 2011.
Cision said it has 13,103 customers, including 9,270 of its CisionPoint software, up from 8,943 in December.
Gieskes noted the positive revenue growth contrasted with “two key events” in the U.S. during Q2.
Cision sold off its U.S. print monitoring business to BurrellesLuce for $2M in last month saying digital has hastened revenue declines in the space. But the business was worth $11M in revenue in 2011. It had previously unloaded European print operations.
Cision in June paid out a “significant sum” to Dow Jones, according to the media company, to settle an infringement claim.
Among the material risks and uncertainties Cision lists in its filings is the potential tightening of copyright and data protection laws, which could limit its ability to distribute information or cause higher fees to rights holders.
Cision last month hired Dawn Conway, an attorney and former VP of global licensing for Lexis Nexis, to be senior VP of global content licensing responsible for acquiring and retaining all licensed content in support of its global businesses, including its news monitoring and media database services.
Cision has 1,221 employees.