Education sales flat at Huveaux

Huveuax’s Education Division recorded flat revenues of £5.5m for the first half year to 30 June. EBITDA was also flat at £0.9m.

Changes to the curriculum from September in the UK (excluding Scotland) has had an impact on sales of Huveaux’s backlist titles with direct-to-school sales down 5% at Huveaux. These curriculum changes have resulted in the need for Huveaux to invest in new titles – 68 new titles were published in the first half of the year (of which eight were purely digital products). A further 131 new titles are scheduled to be published before the end of the year (11 purely digital). The company also launched products specifically for iPods.

However, the shortfall in direct sales has been offset by growth in sales to the trade including WH Smith and Borders, as well as retails chains including Argos. Although these sales are at a lower margin, cost cutting within the business has maintained margins.

Huveaux needs to put in a good second half if it is to achieve the £13.6m revenue and £3.5m EBITDA forecast by its former house broker, Dresdner Kleinwort, at the start of this year.

Revenues at Huveuax’s other business, its political division, grew by 13% to £7.8m and EBITDA more than doubled to £0.9m over the same period.

Overall, Huveaux has used the proceeds from its recent disposals to reduce its net debt to £8.5m.

www.huveauxplc.com