Profile of Infomedia18

This is an updated edition of the original profile which was published in July 2007.

Infomedia is a leading company in India's B2B media industry. The company's primary business lines are publishing business directories and special interest magazines and providing publishing business process outsourcing (BPO) and print solution services. For the financial year 2008-09, publishing operations account for 66% of revenues and printing services account for almost 32%. The company has offices in 22 cities across India and employs a staff of 1,600. Infomedia's network offers solid coverage of the India market including an established national ad sales team of 600 people and a comprehensive distribution network. In the year ended 31st March 2008, revenues were US$25 million down from US$37 million the year before and US$49 million in 2006-2007. The company recorded a large net loss of US$16.7 million last year - a significant increase over the US$2.5 million recorded the year before.

Previously known as Tata Infomedia, the company is publicly traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. Following its split from the Tata group, the company's largest shareholder was ICICI Venture which is the private equity arm of the ICICI Bank. In December 2007, ICICI sold a 40% stake to TV18, a fast-growing Indian media group for US$45 million. The company was subsequently renamed Infomedia18.

In 2005 and 2006, Infomedia completed several small acquisitions in order to enter the publishing BPO industry. In 2005, the company acquired Bangalore-based Cepha Imaging as well as the Keyword Group which is based in the U.K. Clients of Infomedia's outsourcing service are primarily in the U.K. and the U.S. Customers include blue clip publishers such as McGraw-Hill, Thomson Learning, Wolters Kluwer and Pearson Education.

Infomedia publishes special interest consumer magazines as well as B2B trade titles and business directories. The company currently publishes 18 titles - 12 trade magazines and six consumer titles. Infomedia supports these publications with a strong distribution network featuring 125 distribution partners connected to 40,000 outlets across 400 cities and towns in India.

Infomedia has been through several turbulent years recently including three different majority owners since 2003. Revenues have suffered significantly plummeting from US$49 million two years ago to just US$25 million last year. A number of key executives, including former managing director Prakash Iyer, have departed. Following downgrades by ratings agencies, the company's management has recently been considering a rights issue, the proceeds of which would in part be used to pay down debt. Additionally, there were some reports in the Indian press that Infomedia would sell off its printing operations, but that has not happened. There has, however, been some positive news for the company in the past year including a strategic alliance with Alibaba.com and the launch of a new magazine, Entrepreneur.