NMA and The Layer publisher Centaur’s August-to-December website income dropped by £1 million to £6.9 million.
The group lost six percent of its online subscription money, coming in at £3.3 million, and lost six percent of its web advertising income.
Overall company revenue is 24 percent down, but net loss ballooned from £100,000 to £1.7 million.
The Marketing & Creative division which houses NMA and Mad.co.uk saw 37 percent of income disappear and bore the brunt of Centaur cutbacks – it shaved off a third of its costs and dumped 18 percent of staff by July. Perhaps ironically, the division got 12 percent more money from online job ads.
It’s not hard to see how the economy has hit Centaur – compared with the year before…
— Half of its job ads income was wiped out.
— It lost 22 percent of advertising income.
— Event income is 27 percent down.
It’s a sea of minuses but, like other companies, Centaur is keen to stress a less worse last few months – year-ago revenue decline has slowed from 28 percent during January-to-April, to 15 percent during November and December. It sees “positive signs of stabilisation”, according to its earnings report. Centaur shaved off £5.7 million in costs and cut three percent of staff.