Ad slump hits UBM profits

The subdued state of the advertising market has trimmed profits at publishing group United Business Media (UBM).

UBM posted pre-tax profits before one-off items and goodwill of £40.7m for the first six months of the year, down from £71.7m in the same period in 2001.

Allowing for one-off costs, UBM made a pre-tax loss of £39.1m.

UBM said it had failed to see any improvement in US hi-tech advertising, which has hit revenues at its CMP business.

CMP - which provides information and marketing services to IT firms - saw revenues tumble 37.8% to £136.5m.

And UBM said it expected the amount spent on hi-tech advertising this year to be 45% lower than the peak seen in 2000.