Fashion publishers under scrutiny

Fashion edia giant Emap is facing a shareholder backlash after it announced last week that its revenues will slide this year. Shares in the company, which owns 'lads' mag' FHM and the weekly publication Grazia, fell by nearly 15 per cent last Thursday following the news.One of Emap's largest shareholders hinted that it would support a takeover bid for the group. 'It is not a huge surprise they have underperformed. There is a lot of venture capital money around in the media sector. They wouldn't have much of a defence if someone came along with a bid,' the stakeholder said.

Last September, Emap warned that advertising revenue in some of its public-sector trade titles was falling rapidly and overall growth was slowing. Before that, Moloney had announced that the group's French arm was performing badly, and the business was subsequently sold.Emap said last week that revenues from its men's lifestyle and automotive titles, which analysts estimate generate around 40 per cent of profits at its magazine arm, had slowed significantly. Magazines including FHM - one of the publishing success stories of the Nineties - music title Q and car publication Max Power are not performing as well as they were. Arena and Motor Cycle News are also believed to be suffering.

The company has launched successful weekly titles like Zoo and Closer, which are growing, but investors are worried that the latest comments from the company indicate the slowdown in the magazine market may be permanent rather than cyclical. One analyst said: 'The market is catching up with them.'A company spokesman said: 'Emap continues to outperform markets which are clearly under pressure', and emphasised that it had raised the dividend and returned money from the sale of the French business to shareholders. He added that Sir Robin Miller, a former chief executive and chairman of Emap, described the company's current management as 'outstanding' last week.