Reed Elsevier Posts Lower Profit

LONDON--Reed Elsevier PLC (REL.LN) Thursday reaffirmed its outlook for the year, even as the Anglo-Dutch publishing and exhibitions company posted a fall in first-half profit on lower revenue.

Net profit in the six months to June 30 fell to GBP454 million ($773 million) from GBP509 million in the year-earlier period.

Revenue fell 6% to GBP2.85 billion from GBP3.03 billion, lower than analyst expectations of GBP3.01 billion polled by FactSet. It recorded a fall in revenue for its scientific, technical and medial division as the company shifts its formats to digital from print. The risk solutions and information business division's results were hit by currency movements and asset divestments.

Operating profit rose to GBP697 million from GBP684 million.

The group said underlying trends in the business "continue to be positive" as it enters the second half of the year and said the full-year outlook is unchanged.

"We remain confident that we will deliver another year of underlying revenue, profit, and earnings growth in 2014," said Chief Executive Erik Engstrom.

More than 80% of the company's revenue comes from electronic or face-to-face formats, the group says, whose brands include the legal research product LexisNexis and the magazine New Scientist.

Reed Elsevier, co-headquartered in the U.K. and the Netherlands as parent companies Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV, respectively, said it remains on track to deliver on its strategic and financial priorities.

Reed Elsevier PLC declared an interim dividend of 7 pence, up 5% from a year earlier.

Reed Elsevier shares in London closed Wednesday at 939 pence, valuing the company at GBP10.76 billion. The combined market capitalization of Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV is approximately GBP19 billion, the group says.

Write to Simon Zekaria at [e-mail]

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires