Circle the wagons

Times are tough and companies are protecting what they've got. UBM's David Levin puts it altogether more smoothly in the Interim Update just released when he says, "We have anticipated challenging economic times and are actively managing our operational costs but we remain on the lookout for opportunities to continue the development of our business. Costs are under continual review and the focus for 2009 is operational excellence."

CMP Asia, the review says, has generated profits "ahead of 2007". It goes on to note that "Whilst the business has performed ahead of plan in China, its performance in Japan was disappointing in 2008; this is an area of continuing management focus". This coincides with the BBC telling us that Japan is now officially back in recession for the first time since 2001.

Meanwhile, the company also tells us that it has bought out Xinhua Finance's share of its Xinhua PR Newswire JV. The $6mn deal includes about 50 people and $4mn in revenues.