Emap rises after thumbs up from Lehman Brothers

brandrepublic.com, Thursday, 31 May 2001, 2:12pm,

LONDON - Shares in UK media group Emap soared 15p yesterday after investment bank Lehman Brothers replaced its "market under-perform" recommendation with "market perform".

The news comes the day after Emap announced the resignation of CEO Kevin Hand, who led the 1998 purchase of its beleaguered US arm Emap USA at a vastly inflated price. Emap paid $1.2bn (£720m) for the former publisher Petersen and it is expected to fetch around £500m.

The announcement coincided with a strong set of results, ahead of expectations.

Emap posted a 5% increase in full-year pre-tax profits to £197m on revenues of £1.15bn, up 5% on last time.

The company also revealed that it will take a £545m charge on the reduced value of the business.

Emap's shares were trading at 845p yesterday afternoon up from an opening price of 830p.

This article was first published on brandrepublic.com