Finance directors

The results from PPA’s cost and revenue benchmarking study will be reviewed along with an analyst’s view of how publishers should develop their digital strategies to maximize future opportunities.

09.00	Welcome from Helen Alexander CBE, CEO The Economist Group and PPA Chairman, and Jonathan Shephard, PPA Chief executive
09.10	Economic overview - Ross Walker, UK Economist, RBS Financial Markets Ross Walker will open the day with an overview of the current economic situation and his predications for the future and how the economy might affect the media landscape.
09.30	Stephen Grabiner, Apax Partners and Carolyn McCall Guardian Media Group After ending 2007 with one of the biggest business media deals of the year when they jointly bought Emap Communications, Apax and GMG have become major players in the business media space. This session will provide and insight into why private equity firms like Apax are so interested in this sector and why GMG, a company whose heritage is in newspapers and consumer media has chosen to invest in business media.
09.50	Paul Richards Director Numis Securities, questions Stephen and Carolyn

10.15-10.45 Coffee

10.45-12.45

Rejoin main conference or specialist session

12.45-14.00 Lunch

14.00	Finance directors' seminar begins
14.00	Introduction Moderator: Robert Marr, William Reed Business Media. Building revenue models in a multiplatform world Paul Richards from Numis to present on the future strategy for publishers in the digital era.
14.25	The finance function for a digital era David Lindop from PWC will explore how publishers can restructure their finance function and develope metrics to work as enablers rather than obstacles.
14.50	Managing ad revenues Michael Rudberg from Ernst & Young will give publishers the low down on accounting for online revenues and issues in acquiring online businesses.
15.10	Saving money through e-commerce Sean Delaney from Iasta will demonstrate how publishers can radically improve the ROI in procurement through the use of eSourcing tools.
15.30	A benchmark of excellence PPA’s Magazine Cost and Revenue benchmarking scheme included over 200 titles in 2008. Francisco Martinez from CELRE will present the findings.
15.50	Question Time