T&F revenues nudge up, as Informa prepares to cut jobs in Covid action plan

Taylor & Francis saw revenues nudge up slightly by 1.9% year on year in the six months to 20th June 2020, as parent company Informa announced it was beginning a cost-cutting programme in the US and EMEA, including job losses, because of the pandemic.

The academic publisher had revenues of £256.5m compared to £251.8m the previous year, according to a half-year report from parent company Informa. Statutory operating profit fell 11.4% from £67.6m to £59.9m, while adjusted operating profit increased 2.5% to £95.3m.

The report said Taylor & Francis “continues to perform well”. It noted: “In research publishing, consistent levels of growth are underpinned by high renewal rates for journal subscriptions and further positive momentum across open access. The outcome for 2020 is now largely secure and focus is turning to 2021, as the new university year approaches and the annual subscription renewal season gets underway.”

The report said advanced learning also remained a “robust business”. It added: “Whilst it has seen some impact from Covid-19 on its supply chain and US retail business, trading has started to return to more typical patterns over recent months.”

For Informa as a whole, adjusted operating profit was down to just £118.6m from £435.7m, the previous year. That was on revenues of £814.4m compared to 2019's £1.4bn, mainly due to the impact of the pandemic on its events business.

As part of a Covid-19 action plan, the company has begun a cost-cutting programme aimed at making £400m direct savings to adjusted operating profit and more than £200m annualised indirect savings by the year's end. This will include a voluntary severance programme and "targeted compulsory redundancies largely in North America and EMEA”. None of the job cuts will affect Taylor & Francis, a T&F spokesperson said.

Back in March the firm announced pay cuts for its top executives during the pandemic, including a voluntary salary reduction of 25% for Taylor & Francis c.e.o. Annie Callanan.

Stephen A Carter, group chief executive of Informa, said: "Despite the first-half disruption to physical events businesses caused by the pandemic, we are seeing strong demand and resilience in our specialist subscriptions, data and content, reflecting the power of our brands and depth of geographic reach and customer relationships. Encouragingly, we have also seen our physical events business recover in mainland China, whilst our increasing participation in virtual events is maintaining our brands, developing our digital services and enhancing our data capabilities."

He added: "The combination of our resilient subscriptions-led businesses and the actions we are taking position Informa securely through to the end of 2021. We remain confident that Informa will emerge from the pandemic with stability and security, delivering long-term sustainable growth and shareholder value."