“The challenges of today’s disrupted working environment also present us opportunities to provide extra customer services,” Aspermont Managing Director Alex Kent has told shareholders while outlining the impact of COVID-19 on its business.
Aspermont, an ASX-listed B2B publisher, has a diversified business, producing print magazines, premium online subscriptions, industry events, display advertising, client content marketing and lead generation solutions, and job sites/classified advertising.
As with its events that were to run in March, Aspermont has postponed its June events due to the COVID-19 restrictions around holding public gatherings. These events have been rescheduled to be held between October and December 2020.
The postponement of the events will have an impact on Aspermont’s 2020 financial performance, but the company has said that its primary revenue stream – premium online subscriptions – is continuing its “solid growth alongside significant increases in online audience activity”.
Aspermont has also provided freely accessible COVID-19 news services across its premium channels.
On the advertising side, Aspermont reports that its display, lead generation, content marketing streams continue to grow, but at lower levels than previously forecast.
In response to COVID-19, Aspermont has implemented initiatives that will result in over $2 million of annualised operational savings, which it says will stay in place until market conditions “normalise”.
Managing Director Alex Kent said “Our long-standing subscriber base and diversified business model, together with initiatives taken, are enabling us to handle the exogenous shock that the global community is presently experiencing.
“The timely provision of independent news, information, opinion and analysis has never been more important and as a ‘digital first’ business, Aspermont’s delivery mechanisms are fit-for-purpose.”
“Periods of uncertainty often result in contractions or short-term deferrals of marketing spend…Aspermont has built a variety of online marketing services that keep our customers continuously connected with their audiences.”
Alex Kent, Managing Director, Aspermont
Aspermont had previously highlighted that a core focus for 2020 would be to move from transactional to solutions-focused selling.
Headquartered in the UK, Aspermont publishes for the mining, agriculture, energy and technology sectors, and has offices in Australia, UK, Brazil, North America and the Philippines. Over half (55 per cent) of the company’s revenue is gained from the Australasia region, which has traditionally made up the largest portion of its readership.
