LONDON (Brand Republic) - Shares in Anglo-Dutch group Reed Elsevier soared after the scientific publisher surprised analysts with only a 3% dip in full-year profits after a period which included heavy investment in online operations.
The company, which last year committed investment of £750m over three years to developing its business websites, reported profits of £690m, compared with £710m in 1999. The dip in profits was smaller than analysts had expected. Some had been expecting Reed to report numbers as low as £669m.
Turnover grew 11% to £3.7bn and the company said it expects earnings growth to move into double figures from 2002. Its share price rose 22p yesterday on the news of the results to close at 635p in London.
The stock continued to rise this morning hitting 654p in early trading. This came despite the news that its planned acquisition of US medical publisher Harcourt General has been referred to the UK Competition Commission.
The deal is said to have been referred because of competition concerns relating to the power that the merged company would wield in the market for scientific, technical and medical journals.
The Commission will report its findings to the Department of Trade and Industry on May 28.