By Marcus Leach
Figures released by Yell on Tuesday revealed a 12 per cent drop in their year-on-year revenues.
A decline in demand for advertising among small businesses in Europe and America has heaped further pressure on the already indebted publisher. However, strong cash flow has allowed early repayments on debt payments, which are down to £2.76 billion.
With concerns over Yell's ability to support its debt there has been a dramatic drop in share prices, which in 2007 started above £5 but have since dropped to less than 10p in 2011.
Famed in the UK for their printed Yellow Pages directories Yell operates in the US, UK, Spain and Latin America. On Tuesday their share prices dropped by a further 0.36p to 6.69p.
With little chance of improvement in the economic situation, chief executive Mike Pocock said it would be quite some time before planned efficiency savings would be seen across printed and online products.
Print revenues, which account for close to 75 per cent of Yell's overall revenues, were down 17 per cent to £752 million in the US market, with print revenues in Spain and the UK dropping by over 20 per cent. The only market that saw a positive gain in revenues, which across all markets amounted to £1.88 billion, was Latin America.
The loses from their printed media were offset marginally by the growth in digital revenues, up 9.4 per cent to £457 million. Mr Pocock, whilst recognising the opportunities in digital growth said the digital push would coincide with the nurturing of the print business due to the strong cash flow it generates.
