Reed Elsevier Thursday reported a pretax profit of GBP617 million for the year to Dec. 31, 2008, compared to a profit of GBP812 million a year earlier.

* 2009 OUTLOOK

* Challenging environment, Reed Elsevier resilient

* Challenging economic environment; Elsevier and LexisNexis professional markets resilient but not immune; Reed Exhibitions and Reed Business Information business-to-business markets more impacted

* Adjusted earnings growth at constant currencies expected to be positive

* Significant positive currency translation impact on earnings reported in sterling, small benefit expressed in euros, at current exchange rates

Edited Press Release

Reed Elsevier Chief Executive Officer, Sir Crispin Davis, said the company had a very successful year with major progress in developing the business, and the strongest constant currency adjusted EPS growth in a decade.

Good revenue growth was seen across most of the business driven by the growing demand for online information and workflow solutions. The revenue growth and a strong focus on restructuring and cost management delivered meaningful margin improvement and the operating cash generation was excellent, the firm said.

It added while the economic environment has become progressively more challenging, the business is more resilient than most and it is in a strong financial position.

In Elsevier, subscription renewals reached record levels whilst other online solutions for the scientific and healthcare communities grew rapidly.

Online legal information solutions have continued to expand, and there is growing demand for information analytics in the risk market.

In legal research Reed said it sees significant opportunities for more intuitive and interoperable offerings to enhance customer productivity and it is stepping up its investment to reflect this.

Reed Exhibitions had an exceptional year including the benefit of non annual shows cycling in.

Reed Business Information held up well for most of the year, helped by the strong growth of its significant online franchises. In the last quarter, however, the business increasingly felt the impact on advertising markets of the global downturn, Reeed said.

It added the acquisition of ChoicePoint transforms the company's position in the risk information and analytics sector and the strategic and financial benefits are very attractive.

The business has performed well with the insurance data and services business, which accounts for the substantial majority of ChoicePoint's operating profits, delivering 10% year-on-year organic revenue growth.

"The integration with our existing risk business is progressing well and we are confident of achieving our savings and returns targets," Reed said.

It added it was disappointed not to be able to sell Reed Business Information but the macro-economic environment and poor credit market conditions made it too difficult to structure a transaction on acceptable terms.

Whilst the short term outlook for RBI is very challenging, RBI is a high quality business, with a strong management team and a record of success in developing online services, the firm said.

The $290 million restructuring programme announced in February 2008 is progressing well and is expected to deliver a 2� year cash payback, with the targeted 2008 cost savings of $30 million delivered and the targeted $200 million annual savings by 2011 on track.

The scope of the programme has now been expanded both to include the RBI business and to add further restructuring and consolidation opportunities which have been identified reflecting the good progress made and the more challenging economic environment. The further targeted savings represent a 2� year cash payback on $220 million additional restructuring costs, with additional targeted annual savings of $150 million by 2011; the bulk of this represents the inclusion of RBI in the programme.