Reed-Elsevier to hit £70m online B2B targets

LONDON - Reed-Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch publisher, looks set to hit its £70m online business-to-business revenues target for 2001.

The news comes as a boost for the internet sector and represents a 45% year-on-year increase for Reed.

The company, the world's largest scientific publisher, said that UK internet revenues would account for 18% of its directories and magazine revenues.

The news was announced by CEO Crispin Davies, speaking at a Merrill Lynch conference in London yesterday.

Meanwhile, Reed-Elsevier, Pearson and Wolters Kluwer are being tipped as potential bidders for Vivendi Universal's professional and free magazine business, according to a report in La Tribune.

Vivendi is expected to offload this division as a means to financing its recent acquisition of US textbook publisher Houghton Miffler for $1.7bn (£1.2bn).

Shares in Reed International, which makes up one half of Reed-Elsevier, climbed 11p initially to 643p in London to settle at 640p 25 minutes before trading ended yesterday.



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