CSS Stellar reported losses

CSS Stellar, the entertainment and sports marketing group announced a preliminary pre-tax loss of £3.0m for the year ending 31 December 2004, compared to a loss of £4.21m in the corresponding period the year before. Turnover was up by nearly 76% to £77.84m, although nearly 13% of group turnover in the year was contributed by now discontinued operations. The year saw a restructuring of the group in order to concentrate on its profitable core businesses. One of these divisions, the Talent Management division saw a 20% increase in operating profits to £1.2m on turnover of £10.9m, an operating margin of 11% compared with 10% the previous year. The division’s strengths are as literary agents and managing talent in motor sports, but in football a contract has been agreed with English Premier League club Chelsea FC to work on the clubs centennial celebrations in 2005 and its Swiss client, Phillipe Senderos, plays for Arsenal. The largest division Marketing contributed £50.3m in turnover, but had an operating margin of less than 2%. In contrast, the Events division had an operating margin of nearly 11%, up from 8% the year before. Events saw strong revenue growth in 2004 with turnover up by 32% to reach £6.6m. This growth was helped by Icon supplying and installing the signage at EURO 2004 and being appointed as the main branding agency for the London 2012 Olympic bid. The group’s operating loss increased by 58% to £2.71m, but at the pre-tax level losses fell by 34% to reach a loss of £3.0m. The loss per sharewas reduced by 38 to reach 10.61p. Commenting on the results CSS Stellar chairman said: “I am delighted that the results are ahead of expectations. We believe that our core companies are operating in market sectors that will deliver significant growth in coming years.” The group’s year end cash position fell from £4.80m at December 31 2003 to £1.06m at December 31 2004, but on February 25 CSS Stellar announced the sale of its 58.5% stake in Target Entertainment Limited for £625,000 in cash to Amphritite Limited. It was thought by the board that reality based television did not fit with its other activities.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.