Maiden profits halved by downturn

BLAMING the foot-and-mouth crisis, a delayed General Election and the events of 11 September, Britain's largest advertising posters business Maiden reported a halving of profits and earnings in 2001.

But chairman and chief executive Ron Zeghibe remains cautiously optimistic and said: 'We anticipate a gradual and measured recovery building during 2002.' He added that while Maiden could not defy an economic downturn he would still expect it to outperform the economic cycle.

This was shown by the fact that while display advertising on TV fell 11% last year, on radio by 9% and in national newspapers by 8%, outdoor posters fell by only 2.8%. But that still looked poor compared with a 17% rise in 2000.

Maiden's turnover was static at £80.3m, but pre-tax profits dropped from £13m to £6.7m. Earnings halved from 21.8p to 10.5p with the dividend held at 6p. Maiden spent almost £18m on acquisitions, better billboards and IT. This year it will increase the number of huge LED screens at railway stations.