GENERAL: Elsevier Science Friction?

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>]

Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 09:01:03 -0500
From: Robert Michaelson <rmichael@northwestern.edu>
Subject: GENERAL: Elsevier Science Friction?

Please excuse duplicate posting.

The Times (United Kingdom) has an article from October 8, 2004:

Larger capitalisation shares: Reed Elsevier, GSK, SABMiller, Kingfisher
By Nick Hasell

REED ELSEVIER gave up some of this week's gains on concerns that a
slowdown in revenue growth in the publisher's science division could leave
its shares looking expensive.

In a circular entitled Science Friction, Citigroup suggests the
Anglo-Dutch media group is at a "pivotal moment" in its history. Rogan
Angelini-Hurll, an analyst, suggests Reed has been one of the best
performers in its sector over the past four years, having outpaced the
FTSE all-share index by 47 per cent. But the US broker now believes
pricing pressure within science publishing could trigger a short-term
de-rating of the shares, similar to their performance between 1997 and
1998...

... It also points to the unwinding of "bundled" deals with academic
institutions, which, together with the electronic shift, has seen price
inflation slow from 7 per cent to 5.5 per cent over the past two years.

See the rest of the article at
<http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8211-1301731,00.html>

Unfortunately, I've been unable to find the Citigroup report itself on the
Web.

Bob Michaelson
Northwestern University Library
Evanston, Illinois 60208
USA
rmichael@northwestern.edu