The Australian Securities Exchange-listed company has reported a net profit after tax of $A1.08 million up from a $484,000 loss in the previous year.
Group revenue from the company’s core operations, including specialist media and international conferencing activities, was $A22.96 million compared to $A24.7 million in 2009.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at $3.25 million, up from $1.6 million in the previous year.
Aspermont also further reduced its primary debt from $11 million to $7.5 million in line with a planned debt reduction program implemented 12 months ago.
The company’s cash at the end of the year was $774,000, down from $797,000 at the end of 2009.
Aspermont publishes an international stable of print and online B2B (business-to-business) news services covering the mining, petroleum, coal, construction, biotechnology and logistics sectors.
Aspermont chief executive officer Colm O’Brien said the key high-growth areas emerging for the company were the events and online aspects of the business.
“These remain high-margin products and in the past year we have increased our offering to the marketplace, particularly in the events space,” he said.
“At the operational level the integration between the United Kingdom and Australia has gathered pace, particularly with cross sales and operational functions. This includes the promotion of events, print advertising and the implementation of group subscription offers.
“The stable of high-quality print products in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States continues to grow, notwithstanding market trends on the future of print products, and the number of customers now purchasing more than one Aspermont product has increased by 75 per cent.”
O’Brien said the company’s year-on-year cash position remained the same through utilising both investment and financing activities and a positive return to revenue and a stronger sterling currency would result in cash positions increasing in the next financial year.
“The realignment of our conference offering in Australia through divesting our interest in Tonkin Corporation to concentrate on our Resourceful Events brands has been one of the highlights of the year,” he said.
“We launched a successful and profitable Mines and Money conference in Beijing to further extend this global brand, and we are looking at new product launches following a positive start to the current financial year.”
Looking ahead, Aspermont said that with the first quarter of this financial year nearing completion, the company’s overall position was ahead of budget with an uplift in forward booking across all its product channels.
The company is also considering new product launches given the positive start to the year.
While Aspermont has not declared a dividend this year, the company’s directors will be considering a dividend in due course.
