PR Newswire’s 2011 revenue ticked up 3.6% to £187M, a “resilient” performance as the United Business Media unit transitions to digital and expands overseas.
U.S. distribution revenue inched up 0.7% for the year, although overall U.S. revenue was essentially flat in 2011. PRN’s continued expansion in Europe yielded growth of 38.5%.
“The solid performance of data services and PR Newswire in 2011 reflects the initial benefits of our continuing investment in these businesses,” said CEO David Levin. PRN has a new generation of services for online and social media reach currently in beta as it works on a plan of “moving well beyond the ‘press release.’” So-called “enhanced” releases accounted for 23% of its volume in 2011.
UBM also said it wants PRN to ink broader, longer-term customer pacts – subscriptions rather than one-off press releases -- as it took in $31M via subscriptions in 2011 in the U.S., where it counts 21,000 customers. About 90% of its US revenue is split evenly between public, private and agency clients.
Operating profit fell 2.6% at PRN but was slightly positive at 0.2% on a constant currency basis.
UBM, which derives the largest chunk of revenues from its events business, saw 2011 revenues rise 9.3% overall to £972.3M as operating profit was up 17.5% to £201.9M.
Levin said all of its units met or exceeded targets for the year.