Wolters Kluwer released its "Wolters Kluwer 2009 First-Quarter Scheduled Trading Update."
Here's an excerpt:
The company continues to see resilience in its first-quarter profitability despite challenging economic conditions in North America and Europe which have impacted the buying decisions of our professional customers. Regardless of these challenges, the professionals we serve continued to demand new and innovative solutions to improve their productivity. We continued to address these needs and as a result revenues from online and software solutions exceeded 50% of total revenues in the quarter. Retention rates on subscription products were largely in line with the prior year, while new subscription sales and sales on transactional products were weak as anticipated at the beginning of the year and from delayed customer purchase decisions. Despite these conditions, the ordinary EBITA margin [Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization margin] in the first quarter was in line with the prior year due to earlier cost containment actions, the continued migration of revenues from print to electronic products, the benefits of the Springboard operational excellence program and the contribution of higher margin acquisitions completed in the prior year. First-quarter cash flow was in line with expectations, and integration of prior year acquisitions is on track. The resilient portfolio and strong cash generation continue to support a solid financial position.
