FY24 delivered EBITDA 5% ahead of our forecasts because of a better than expected performance towards the end of the year by The Lawyer (+7% rev y/y), MiniMBA (+5% y/y), and Marketing Week subscription revenues (+16% y/y). These brands now account for 68% of group revenues, which gives us confidence that group revenue and profit can return to growth post FY24, where group revenue fell -6% y/y and AOP -52%, due to the macro-induced-headwinds faced by the other brands. Meanwhile, the strategic review continues. It has already found that most of CAU’s customers only have 1 or 2 of its products; so a brand-by-brand focus (instead of looking for synergies across Xeim) may produce better results. At c. 6x FY26 EV/AOP (vs a peer average 8x) CAU continues to look undervalued.
