ANNUAL REPORT AND
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
for the ear ended 31 December 2023
CENTAUR MEDIA PLC Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023
www.centaurmedia.com
Contents
STRATEGIC REPORT
Introduction
Highlights of the year and during MAP23 1
Chair’s Statement 2
Strategy 4
Chief Executive’s Statement 10
Key Performance Indicators 14
Performance: Financial Review 16
Section 172 Statement 23
Environmental, Social and Governance
(ESG) report 27
Risk Management 38
Viability Statement 42
GOVERNANCE REPORT
Board of Directors 43
Executive Committee 45
Directors’ Report 46
Directors’ Statement on Corporate
Governance 48
Audit Committee Report 52
Nomination Committee Report 55
Remuneration Committee Report 56
Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities
in respect of the financial statements 71
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Independent Auditor’s Report 72
Financial Statements 76
Notes to the Financial Statements 83
OTHER INFORMATION
Five Year Record 118
Directors, Advisers and
Other Corporate Information IBC
Advise. Inform. Connect.
Our purpose
We enable ambitious leaders
to see around corners and
deliver change
• We inspire and empower the
world’s most dynamic leaders in the
marketing and legal professions
• We are committed to the delivery of
market-leading insight and tangible
outcomes to build long-term,
sustainable growth
• Every article, every piece of
research, every data point, every
live event, training programme,
advisory opportunity and interaction
turbo-charges leaders and their
teams to predict the future and
then make it happen
Our vision
We aim to be the ‘go to’
company in the international
marketing and legal sectors to:
• Provide business information to
customers using data, content and
insight;
• Offer training services through
digital initiatives and online
programmes;
• Connect specific communities
through digital media and
events; and
• Advise businesses on how to
improve their performance and
return on investments.
We will build strong and lasting
relationships with our customers
by providing cutting-edge insight
and analysis to deliver long-
term sustainable returns for our
shareholders.
Our business
Centaur is an international provider of business information, training and specialist
consultancy in the marketing and legal professions that inspires and enables
people to excel at what they do. Our Xeim and The Lawyer business units serve
the marketing and legal sectors respectively and, across both, we offer a wide
range of products and services targeted at helping our customers add value.
Our reputation is built on the trust and confidence arising from a deep
understanding of these sectors and a strong track record of providing our
customers with market-leading insight, content, data and training. Our key
strengths are the expertise of our people, the quality of our brands and products,
and our ability to harness technology to innovate continually and develop our
customer offering. This enables us to help our customers raise their aspirations
and deliver better performance.
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023
www.centaurmedia.com
1
STRATEGIC REPORT
Highlights of the year and during MAP23
Financial highlights
Revenue from continuing operations
2023
2022
£38.4m
2021
£35.4m
2020
£29.3m
£37.3m
Net Cash
3
2023
2022
£16.0m
2021
£13.1m
2020
£8.3m
£9.5m
Adjusted
1,2
EBITDA
£9.7m
2023
2022
21%
26%
2021
16%
2020
12%
Adjusted
1
diluted EPS
2023
2022
2.6p
2021
1.9p
2020
0.3p
4.2p
1
See alternative performance measures section for definition of adjusted results
2
Adjusted EBITDA is reconciled to Adjusted Operating Profit in note 1(b)
3
Net Cash is the total of cash and cash equivalents and short-term deposits
Strategic and operational highlights
• Strong performance exceeding the MAP23 EBITDA
margin objective of 23% in 2023
• Clear operational and financial steps taken to focus
on organic growth and manage costs that have built
a strong platform for future profitable revenue growth
• Increase in higher quality revenue to 80% of revenue
from continuing operations
• New customer-centric products launched including
MW Mini MBA in Management course, additional
learning courses on Econsultancy’s LMS platform
and Horizon Live in The Lawyer
• Closure of two brands, Really B2B and Design Week,
after revenue and profit performance below expectations
• Strong balance sheet with net cash balance of £9.5m
after a return of capital to shareholders paid of £8.9m
in ordinary and special dividends
www.centaurmedia.com
2
Chair’s Statement
Exceeding our
expectations on
margin growth
and laying the
foundations for
Centaur’s future.”
Colin Jones
Chair
Dear Shareholder,
2023 was a challenging year – the uncertain macro
and geopolitical conditions continued to drive customer
caution. At the same time, the long-term supportive
tailwinds for the business information and digital training
industry remained and are reflected in the strong profit and
dividend increases reported with these results.
Throughout the year Centaur has
maintained its strategy of reducing its
reliance on non-strategic legacy
revenue streams and focusing on
the continuing customer need for in-
depth quality information and engaging
digital communities.
We embarked on our Margin Acceleration
Plan (MAP23) in 2020 with three clear
objectives: implementing a simple, efficient
and scalable operating model; developing
high quality, trusted products which are
the leaders in their particular markets;
and building the credibility of Centaur’s
management team for delivering on its
strategic and financial commitments.
Our focus on providing deep insight to
the legal and marketing sectors, and on
delivering MAP23, has never wavered. 2023
was the culmination of all the operational
and financial steps implemented since 2020
to improve the profitability, efficiency and
quality of the Group. I am proud to say that
the Board believes Centaur has substantially
completed its MAP23 objectives and this in
turn gives us the platform and confidence to
accelerate Centaur’s growth post MAP23.
People
Our people are at the heart of who we are
and what we do. Our aim is to provide a
culture in which our people thrive and feel
valued for who they are and what they
bring to Centaur and our customers. Over
the last three years, we have revitalised our
team with some quality hires to maintain
the energy and capability to drive the
business forward.
I would like to take this opportunity to
thank all our people for their hard work,
dedication and commitment to the
business. It is their innovation, expertise
and exceptional drive that has enabled us
to deliver our MAP23 margin goal, despite
the ever-changing environment that has
been particularly challenging over the last
few years.
As part of our focus on our people, we
have established values and behaviours
that we want to foster across the Group.
These provide a platform for collaborative,
dedicated partners and problem solvers
who are passionate, accountable,
customer-centric and knowledgeable. We
are confident that, if we can live by our
values every day, our colleagues will feel
part of a team that is enabled, energised
and confident and our clients will feel
respected, supported and inspired.
Performance
The Group achieved a record Adjusted
EBITDA (£9.7m) and EBITDA margin (26%)
in 2023 despite the market headwinds.
These results reflect a strong contribution
across Centaur’s unique portfolio with our
flagship brands benefiting from enhanced
pricing, strong renewal rates and large
contracts with international blue-chip
corporates, supported by our other brands
which were driven by a full programme
of in-person events, quality content and
networking capabilities.
Our MAP23 strategy was launched in 2020
when businesses were still struggling
with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite further unexpected financial
and geopolitical headwinds, the decisive
strategic initiatives taken over the last
three years have enabled us to exceed the
ambitious profitability targets set out by
MAP23. It is particularly satisfying to see
that our Adjusted EBITDA margin for 2023
was 26%, well ahead of our MAP23 target
of 23% and more than double the margin
in 2020.
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023
www.centaurmedia.com
3
STRATEGIC REPORT
The achievement of MAP23 reflects
our continuing focus on satisfying our
customers’ needs, thus generating higher
quality revenue streams from blue-chip
customers. The revenue from Premium
Content and Training and Advisory now
represents a significantly higher proportion
of Group revenue than it did in 2020
and has driven an increase in like-for-like
revenue by nearly a third over that period
to £37.3m for the year. While this is below
the MAP23 revenue target, the shortfall is
due to the closure of some businesses and
the cessation of low margin non-strategic
products, with the underlying quality of
revenue even higher than anticipated at
the start of MAP23.
Centaur has transformed itself into a higher
quality, scalable and more robust business
which in turn has enabled it to deliver
significantly increased shareholder returns.
Dividend and capital
allocation
The Board believes in the long-term
fundamentals of Centaur, recognising the
importance of total shareholder returns,
and has rewarded investors by maintaining
dividend payments throughout the MAP23
period. In line with our normal dividend
policy of distributing 40% of Adjusted
retained earnings, the Board has proposed
a final dividend of 1.2 pence per share
which, when added to the interim dividend,
provides a total dividend for 2023 of
1.8 pence. The 64% increase in ordinary
dividends this year is particularly pleasing.
Additionally, the Group paid special
dividends of 5 pence per share in 2023
as the success of the MAP23 strategy
generated significantly stronger cash flows
and a more robust balance sheet. This
brings total dividends during MAP23 to 8.9
pence per share, equivalent to £12.8m,
The Group’s capital allocation policy is
based on retaining sufficient cash in the
business to fund all organic investment,
including technology and new products,
while maintaining a prudent level of funding
to cover unexpected working capital
volatility. The Group will also consider
complementary bolt-on acquisitions to
supplement its growth strategy.
ESG
Building on all the hard work we did last
year to improve our reporting standards
of climate-related financial information,
in 2023 we have continued to drive the
importance of ESG through our corporate
behaviours and strategic approach and
made sure these aspects remain a core
consideration in our business decisions.
The key areas of focus for us remain the
reduction of our impact on the planet and
improving the effect our business has
on our people and their development,
concentrating on ensuring we attract and
retain the best and most diverse talent.
As a corporate citizen, we were pleased to
have supported two charities in 2023 that
our employees indicated were of importance
to them and their communities – Shooting
Star Children’s Hospices and Crisis. We also
raised funds for Macmillan Cancer Support
in memory of our much-missed late friend
and colleague, Suki Thompson, and for the
Turkish Earthquake Appeal.
Looking ahead
The outlook remains challenging. The usual
market positivity at the start of the year
has waned and, while the inflation drag
is easing, sentiment is dominated by the
uncertain geopolitical climate both at home
and overseas.
While we start 2024 cautious of the
macroeconomic environment’s impact
on Centaur, we remain reassured by the
strategic, operational, financial and social
deliverables that we have achieved over
the last year and since 2020, despite the
tumultuous environment. Our laser focus
on creating high quality products that
serve the needs of our customers and
improving the efficiency of our business
model, means that we have created solid
foundations from which Centaur can
approach the next stage in its development
and continue to deliver the specialist
insights our customers need to succeed.
I feel sure that Centaur has the talent,
customers, strategic capability and financial
discipline to both adapt to the challenges
and realise the opportunities that lie ahead.
COLIN JONES
Chair
12 March 2024
www.centaurmedia.com
4
Strategy
Brands to focus investment on
• MW Mini MBA
• Econsultancy
• Influencer Intelligence
• The Lawyer
Customer focus
• Sell more to existing
customers
• Optimise pricing
• Cross-sell within Xeim
Investment
• Systems
• Data
• People
New products
• Enhanced content offerings
• Digital subscriptions
International growth
Control of costs
Three-year plan to grow revenues to >£45m and
profit margins to 23% by 2023
An international provider of business information,
training and specialist consultancy
MAP23
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023
www.centaurmedia.com
5
STRATEGIC REPORT
Centaur is an international provider of
business information, training and specialist
consultancy that inspires and enables
customers to excel at what they do, raising
their aspirations and delivering better
performance.
The Group’s aim is to be the ‘go to’
company in the international marketing and
legal sectors to:
• Provide business information to
customers using data, content and
insight;
• Offer training services through digital
initiatives and online programmes;
• Connect specific communities through
digital media and events; and
• Advise businesses on how to improve
their performance and ROI.
Over the past year, the Group has
performed well and has exceeded the
ambitious profitability targets set out by
MAP23 three years ago. By continuing
to invest in our key trusted brands, such
as Econsultancy, Influencer Intelligence,
MW Mini MBA and The Lawyer, we have
focused on higher quality revenue streams
generated from blue-chip customers, and
the operational leverage inherent within
Centaur’s business.
Margin Acceleration Plan:
MAP23
The success of MAP23, more than
doubling Group profitability from an
Adjusted EBITDA Margin of 12% in 2020
to 26% in 2023, reflects our sustained
commitment to profitable revenue growth.
This has been predominantly driven by
the Group’s increase in higher quality
profitable revenue, delivering increased
gross margins while maintaining our cost
base at pre-MAP23 levels. This highlights
the operational leverage inherent within
Centaur’s business model with improved
efficiencies and lays the foundations for
long-term sustainable growth.
The revenue-driven growth in profitability in
each of the past three years demonstrates
the resilience of our business. In particular,
the continued growth in profitability through
a period of operational changes in 2022
and 2023 is a significant achievement, and
a reflection of the exceptional commitment
of our people. This year’s results reflect
the strength of the Group’s structure
and purpose as we moved towards the
completion of MAP23.
Revenue model
Our business model is integral to driving
the profitability and success of the Group.
We continue to focus on the higher quality
revenue streams through Xeim and The
Lawyer, being:
• Premium Content comprising
subscription-driven paid content
services; and
• Training and Advisory from marketing
consultancy, digital learning and online
training courses.
Our overall strategy is to create shareholder value by focusing on higher quality revenue streams to
satisfy the needs of our customers and to drive margin acceleration through our operational leverage.
Despite the uncertain macroeconomic backdrop and sector-wide challenges in both 2023 and since
the start of our MAP23 strategy in 2020, we are proud to have exceeded the profitability targets set
out in MAP23. Over the last three years, we have refocused and repurposed the business, and we are
pleased with the strong foundations for future growth we have created.
Looking ahead, we are determined
to keep driving performance beyond
MAP23 to become a customer-centric
business intelligence and learning
organisation with growth from organic
revenue, new product development
and selective bolt-on acquisitions. I
firmly believe Centaur has the talent,
strategy and financial discipline to
achieve its ambitious objectives.”
Swag Mukerji
Chief Executive Officer
www.centaurmedia.com
6
Strategy
CONTINUED
Through our focus on the more significant brands in the Group, we have continued to improve the quality of our revenue with over 80%
of total revenue in 2023 coming from our higher quality Premium Content and Training and Advisory revenue streams (2020: 67%) which
have grown by 38% during MAP23.
During MAP23, revenue from outside the United Kingdom has increased from £10.0m (31% of Group revenue) in 2020 to £14.4m (38% of
Group revenue) in 2023 driven by the growth in Training and Advisory revenue.
Brand
Premium
Content
Training and
Advisory Events
Marketing
Solutions
Recruitment
Advertising
Discontinued
Operations
Xeim
Econsultancy
4 4 4 4
Influencer
Intelligence
4
MW Mini MBA
4
Festival of
Marketing
4
Oystercatchers
4 4
Marketing Week
4 4 4 4
Fashion &
Beauty Monitor
4
Foresight News
4
Creative Review
4 4 4
Really B2B /
Design Week
4
The Lawyer
4 4 4 4
Revenue 2023
(continuing) (% of total)
41% 40% 10% 6% 3% 0%
Revenue 2020*
(% of total)
41% 26% 8% 13% 3% 9%
* As reported
Revenue breakdown
The chart below shows which brands derive significant revenue from each revenue stream:
Higher quality revenue
Other revenue
80%
67%
20232020
£m
45.0
40.0
35.0
30.0
25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
Revenue
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023
www.centaurmedia.com
7
STRATEGIC REPORT
Centaur’s strategy is to focus on our higher
quality revenue streams, investing in the
brands that are the cornerstone of our
business and foundation for future growth.
This will see the Group develop its
proposition as a customer-centric
intelligence business, with the mission
of building on our heritage of informing
and connecting our customers. We will do
this by providing the skills and business
intelligence to enable them to create great
organisations in changing and challenging
environments. In doing so, we will provide
tech-enabled, intelligence and learning
solutions to senior leaders of blue-chip
companies and law firms to generate high
value profitable revenue.
The Lawyer
The Lawyer is the most trusted brand for
the UK legal profession and a leading
provider of information to the global legal
market delivered via a scalable digital
platform. The Lawyer has built on its 37-year
heritage of delivering incisive commentary
and cutting-edge analysis of the UK legal
market, continuing to broaden its offering
to develop a more international business
providing market information to the world’s
largest law firms. This privileged position
enables it to connect law firms with the in-
house legal community in a unique way.
Its main corporate information service,
together with related subscriptions products
Signal and Litigation Tracker, are used by 91%
of the top 50 UK and top 50 US law firms
in London. The Lawyer is also expanding
geographically, developing data and content
for the Top 50 European law firms.
At The Lawyer, we will continue to drive
growth with data-led content and product
development for the top 100 law firms in
the UK and US and increase our footprint
in the European market. Its loyal customer
base enables The Lawyer to continue
to drive growth in our core information
product by adding new content areas
including legal technology and risk in 2024.
We also have plans to launch a subscription
intelligence service and a new digital
platform for subscribers, creating more
opportunities for subscribers to make use
of our content and data.
To augment our digital content, we will be
expanding our series of face-to-face forums,
designed to foster interactive conversations
so senior legal leaders can both gain
deeper insights from our content and data,
and discuss the strategic implications for
themselves and the market.
Alongside this, The Lawyer will continue to
expand the opportunities for networking
beyond our highly regarded conferences
through the launch of The Legal Leadership
Club.
Xeim
Xeim takes its name from ‘Excellence In
Marketing’ and its purpose is to improve
the performance of marketers. The Xeim
portfolio brings together the Group’s nine
marketing brands which are trusted by
its customers and in which there is long
standing confidence – Econsultancy,
Influencer Intelligence, MW Mini MBA,
Festival of Marketing, Marketing Week,
Creative Review, Fashion & Beauty Monitor,
Oystercatchers and Foresight News – to
support the marketing sector, providing
our customers with the advice, information
and connections needed to set themselves
apart from their peers.
THE LAWYER
XEIM
Our portfolio
www.centaurmedia.com
8
Strategy
CONTINUED
Our industry-leading brands and experts
provide insight, analysis and proprietary
content, attracting over 5 million digital
contact points every month. Our approach
capitalises on the inherent strength of
these brands to create integrated solutions
for our international blue-chip customers.
We deliver transformational programmes
for our customers by providing diagnostic
tools, best practice guides, case studies,
thought leadership and curated learning
services to support the customer need.
Xeim can position and cross-sell multi-
brand offerings for the benefit of our
customers by understanding how the
brands interact most effectively with each
other.
Across Xeim, we will continue to cross-
sell our brands to the world’s top 200
marketing spenders to generate, in
particular, Premium Content and Training
and Advisory revenue.
Econsultancy
Econsultancy guides, supports and enables
customers to achieve excellence in digital
marketing and eCommerce. Its focus is on
combining learning content and thought
leadership with practical applications and
tools to support marketers.
Over the last year, we have carried out a
continued programme of improvements to
our eLearning content on the new platform,
including updating our original digital
learning course, adding four completely new
eCommerce courses, a new omnichannel
course for the Consumer Packaged Goods
available to corporate customers through
increased marketing, sales and partnership
arrangements whilst continuing to
development additional courses to meet the
demand of our customers and widen the
penetration of the market opportunity that
exists.
Influencer Intelligence
Influencer Intelligence provides expertise
and support to help customers:
• Discover the right influencers from over
150,000 actively monitored social media
influencers and celebrities and attribute
driven on-site search together with
celebrity news and analysis;
• Evaluate the fit with their brand goals
using metrics that include celebrity
equity score and social media values
as well as audience engagement,
demographics and sentiment score;
• Plan their activations using our
rolling calendar of 4,000 events and
awareness days; and
• Contact their chosen brand ambassador
with multiple contacts for all influencers
plus 50,000 brand and media contacts.
This results in a highly renewable
subscription product with a loyal customer
base particularly in the fashion and retail
sectors. We pride ourselves on having an
expert team to compliment the platform
and build out the news, trends, events
and verified contacts elements of the site.
Influencer Intelligence is about ‘in depth’
content on the influencers that matter.
sector and the translation of all eLearning
materials into five languages.
Looking ahead, we will provide a platform
for more lead generation, deliver new
events, build new opportunities for cross-
selling opportunities and improve renewal
rates through increased usage, creation
of new structured learning courses in
digital marketing and eCommerce, and an
eCommerce skills index.
MW Mini MBA
Marketing Week’s Mini MBA courses distil
the core marketing module of a full MBA
programme into easily digestible and
thoroughly engaging content with two
12-week courses in Marketing and Brand
Management with on-demand modules
prepared and moderated by Professor Mark
Ritson.
Since its launch in 2016, the MW Mini MBA
has grown to be Centaur’s largest brand
with 30,000 alumni from across the globe
driven by corporate multi-seat packages and
online sales. This year we launched our third
course, the MW Mini MBA in Management
– a course designed to give marketers the
essential skills to make it in the boardroom.
This course exceeded expectations with
400 participants for the September launch.
We have also launched a new network that
is open to the alumni of all MW Mini MBA
courses.
Looking ahead, we will expand the
number of international markets where
the MW Mini MBA courses are made
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023
www.centaurmedia.com
9
STRATEGIC REPORT
The brand will continue to focus on
improvements in the platform for customers,
such as content discovery and accessibility.
The brand is also planning to hone the
team’s focus on targeting marketing leads,
to enhance the existing renewal rates and
generate new business.
Other Xeim brands
Our portfolio of other brands will continue
to support Centaur’s growth and play an
important role in creating opportunities
for Xeim, through the cross-selling of our
products and services, introducing us to a
wider customer base and demonstrating
the breadth of our business information
products and services.
These include:
• Marketing Week – for over 40 years,
the most influential source of marketing
information in the UK. In 2024, we will
continue to generate revenue from
subscriptions, proprietary research,
white papers, the annual MW Awards
event as well as marketing solutions and
lead generation services. We are also
developing the platform and content to
drive more corporate subscriptions;
• MW Festival of Marketing – an annual
thought leadership, learning and
networking event that has become a
leading and influential event dedicated
to ambitious marketers. We plan to
discover, learn and connect with more of
our customers in-person at the Festival
and related masterclass events in
2024; and
• Oystercatchers – as one of the
Financial Times’ most highly regarded
management consultancies in the
UK, Oystercatchers has differentiated
itself by providing best-in-class agency
pitch and business performance
transformation advice to its clients.
Due to lower customer demand in brands
with non-strategic revenue and the resulting
lack of viability of those businesses, we have
had to make some strong strategic decisions
this year, including the closure of Design
Week and Really B2B. This will further
prioritise our higher quality revenue streams
in the rest of the Group and sharpen our
focus on delivery to our key customers.
Mergers and acquisitions
In addition to the organic growth and new
product developments within Centaur’s
portfolio, consideration will also be given to
acquisitions that could enhance Centaur’s
existing products and services or build
new capabilities thereby refreshing and
extending product offerings for existing
customers.
Next steps
Following the successful achievement of
MAP23, Centaur is now preparing to embark
on the next phase of growth derived from
continuing increases in organic revenue,
developing revenue from new product
development initiatives and adding
inorganic revenue from acquisitions.
The emphasis will be on higher quality
revenue streams aligned to our objective
of being a customer-centric business
intelligence and learning organisation.
We look forward to providing further
information after the Group’s preliminary
results about how we will continue to deliver
the specialist insights for our customers that
they need to succeed.