It is my pleasure to report on a year of strong growth, both in terms of our organic growth and our acquisition of two strong brands to the Vitesse Media stable – What Investment and M&A Magazine. Our strategy of creating a leading multi-platform media business is working. Today we boast an array of market-leading magazines, websites and events for CEOs, investors and advisers.

Our websites include:

  • SmallBusiness.co.uk
  • GrowthBusiness.co.uk
  • GrowthCompany.co.uk
  • WhatInvestment.co.uk
  • MandAdeals.co.uk

Our magazines include:

  • Business XL
  • Growth Company Investor
  • M&A
  • What Investment

Vitesse Events produce:

  • The Quoted Company Awards
  • Investor All Stars
  • Growth Cycle Seminars
  • Media & Money
  • Growth Company Investor Show

As a result, every month, Vitesse Media reaches a targeted audience of around 450,000 people, consisting of CEOs, entrepreneurs, professional advisers, venture capitalists and other investors, both institutional and private.

Financials

The improved performance of the Group, demonstrated during the last financial year was driven by burgeoning growth in revenues attributed to our branded events and our digital assets. Our strategy continues to focus on growing our own intellectual property base; all our revenues derive from our own branded assets with a negligible amount arising from the management of other people’s events and zero from contract publishing.

By the year-end, the business was showing strong financial progress. Revenues were up 39% from 2005/6, with the ongoing operations increasing by 16% (27% excluding event management). Digital revenues had increased by 60%.

During the year, the gross profit margin increased from 54% to 65% (61% for ongoing operations). Overhead costs have been reduced from 80% to 74% of revenue.

Acquisitions

Our acquisition policy continued to gather pace and during the year we purchased two strong brands, M&A and What Investment, both of which have considerable potential for event and digital brand extensions. These acquisitions were funded by the issue of new equity which enabled us to introduce two new institutional shareholders, Octopus and Brewin Dolphin, who join Artemis on the shareholder register. We are very pleased that our activities are beginning to attract an institutional following.

Current Trading & Outlook

The financial year 2007/8 has got off to an excellent start with the business in profit for each month in the first quarter, though this will be reversed during the second quarter due to this being a traditionally slower period and the Group’s decision to provide for a potential £50,000 bad debt.

In the first months of the current year, we have been particularly pleased with the performance of our digital assets and the launch of the first-ever M&A Awards, which were all well ahead of budget. The integration of What Investment magazine has also gone very smoothly, delivering gross profits ahead of expectations. Plans are now well underway to redesign WhatInvestment.co.uk to increase online revenues further and to extend the brand into events.

To illustrate the evolving nature of our cross platform media business, we expect the revenue split for 2007/8 to approximate as follows:

  • digital revenues 20%
  • event sponsorship and delegate sales 30%
  • print advertising 35%
  • product sales, research and subscriptions 15%


The proportion of revenues coming from print advertising has significantly increased as a result of the acquisitions of M&A and What Investment. The exploitation of these brands through digital and event extensions will drive overall revenues higher and increase the percentage of revenue coming from these areas of the business.

Vitesse Media now owns five well-known brands. Revenues for 2007/8 are expected to be derived as follows (approximately):

  • Growth Company Investor/GrowthCompany.co.uk 30%
  • Business XL/GrowthBusiness.co.uk 25%
  • SmallBusiness.co.uk 10%
  • M&A/MAndADeals.co.uk 18%
  • What Investment/WhatInvestment.co.uk 17%

With our proven track record in identifying and integrating new brands within the Group, we intend to continue to pursue our acquisition policy to build a strong base in B2B media. There is an exciting consolidation opportunity in this area for a cross-platform media business such as Vitesse Media and we intend to devote further management time in 2007/8 to exploit this. We are currently negotiating with several potential acquisition targets and are confident that we will be adding to our stable over the coming months.

The Group’s prospects going forward are looking positive, especially given the acquisitive nature of our operations and the scope for improving and expanding our existing digital presence and products. We look forward to the year ahead with confidence and excitement.

Sara Williams
Chairman and Chief Executive 5 July 2007