Introduction

The Board and Executive Committee team have set operational KPIs which are tracked, and reviewed, at each Board and Executive meeting in order to assess performance.

The year end was 3 April 2011.

Group revenue (£m)
(continuing operations)

The group’s revenue has grown 7% over last year. While the structural decline in publishing continues, digital revenues have grown through both existing and new product channels.

Trader Digital revenue (£m)

Trader Digital has seen revenue growth of 24% of which £12.3m has come from new products.

EBITDA (£m)
(continuing operations)

EBITDA has grown by 16% year-on-year. With costs broadly flat on last year, this revenue growth has driven a strong increase in profitability.

Covenant net debt (£m)

Operating cash conversion (net cash generated from operations over EBITDA) remained strong and grew to 103% (2010: 89%). External net debt continued to fall with a £94.5 million reduction through the year with the group also benefitting from a reduction in debt service costs.