2005 News Releases

16 December

United Business Media Pre-close Season Update* 2005 Second Half Trading

TRADING PERFORMANCE IN LINE WITH EXPECTATIONS: EVENTS AND PRN PERFORMING WELL

Group Summary

UBM has continued to achieve profitable underlying revenue growth in its exhibitions, online and news distribution businesses, although in common with the Industry, print remains challenged. Our strategy to increase UBM's presence in online and exhibitions continues, through acquisitions, disposals and organic initiatives. Acquisitions made in 2004 and 2005 continue to achieve their targeted returns.

Overall trading performance is in line with expectations. PRN and CMP Asia continue to achieve good growth. CMP Medica is performing in line with its business case. CMP Information's exhibitions are strong, however it has experienced revenue pressure in print. CMP Media is performing in line with expectations overall: events are growing and online growth is strong, offsetting continuing declines in print.

Operating Highlights of the Second Half of 2005

CMPI
CMP Information is performing in line with expectations, with strong results in its exhibitions business. In the UK, print revenues have weakened in certain areas, in particular, around recruitment. We have continued to make acquisitions and disposals. In the second half we sold Exchange & Mart and Auto Exchange for £50.2m. We have made acquisitions totalling £51.7m for the year, including the Publican titles and events, ABI Building Data, Informex chemicals show and the Mondial properties "Theme" magazine and "Bar" exhibition.

CMP Asia
The strong performance of our Asian exhibitions business has continued in the second half, with successful events including the Hong Kong Jewellery & Watch Fair and the All China Leather Exhibition in Shanghai, in September. We continue to explore opportunities for expansion through acquisitions, such as Tissue World and the Japan Jewellery Fair, and through brand extensions and new product launches.

CMPMedica
CMPMedica's performance overall is in line with expectations. The performance of the important French business reflects the good progress made on integrating the French medical trade press and marketing services acquisition. Market conditions have been more challenging in Asia Pacific, particularly for Trade Press, but cost savings have offset any revenue shortfalls.

CMP Media
CMP Media is performing in line with expectations with revenue in H2 broadly flat. Growth in exhibitions and online is offset by declines in print. In Healthcare, CME's events revenues have largely recovered following changes in the regulatory environment for pharmaceutical companies. Revenue in the US Entertainment business is flat, in line with our expectations. During the second half we have acquired Tech-Online, Light Reading, ICMI and Black Hat for £27.3m, which strengthen CMP's position in events and online.

PR Newswire
PR Newswire continues to achieve increases in message volumes, length and yield whilst further expanding its product offering and providing additional services to members; the business is therefore growing in line with expectations. Outside the US, PR Newswire is on track to exceed its 10% margin target.

Operating Efficiencies
UBM is continuing its programme of offshoring and outsourcing - this is delivering cost savings and quality improvements.

Investments
In the second half we have disposed of a number of the remaining television assets. Our investment in Five was sold to RTL for £247.6m and we have disposed of SIS for £23m. Total disposals year to date are in excess of £730m.

The acquisitions made in 2004 (£192m) and 2005 year to date (£106m) are performing well and are on track to generate the returns targeted.

One-off Items
The disposals made in 2005 have given rise to significant one-off profits for the year of around £400m. During 2005, following the disposals, we have also undertaken a number of restructuring and business reorganisation projects across several of our continuing businesses. These projects take account of the consequences of the sale of some businesses (principally NOP and Exchange and Mart), the geographic realignment of our publishing divisions and a number of other restructuring actions across the divisions to achieve greater customer and product focus whilst delivering lower operating costs. The costs of these projects will be reported as a one-off item for the year ended 31 December 2005 and will be around £40m for the full year.

Financing
During the second half we have continued to return capital; in total £550m has been returned in the year to date. We have now repurchased and cancelled all except $5.7m of the US$250m 7.75% bond due 2009. We have also repurchased and cancelled over 55% of the $400m 2.375% Convertible Bonds due 2006.

CMPMedica Announcement
Following the acquisition and integration of CMPMedica, Stephen Warshaw has decided to leave his post as CEO of CMPMedica and he will stand down next April to pursue new career opportunities. We are pleased that Stephen will be helping with the transition in a consultancy capacity after his departure. UBM has appointed Egon Zehnder to search for a new CEO for CMPMedica.

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