Phone books bring in big bucks for Sensis

Advertising stays in the black for both Sensis products, Yellow and White Pages.

In its figures for the first-half year for 2009-10, the company reported earnings of $488 million, up by 4.8 per cent. At a time when many traditional printed products have declined (particularly newspapers), the Yellow Pages and White Pages bucked the trend with an increased print share of print media up from 19.6 per cent to 21.3 per cent.

Sensis CEO, Bruce Akhurst, (pictured) described the figures as “a strong result” in a challenging market. “As we advised previously, we experienced subdued sales conditions in our directories business but were able to outperform the local market and deliver solid market share growth in both print and online,” he said.

The company has not been without its troubles, receiving criticism over its iGen program, and speculation that Sensis’ print business would face significant strains as consumers opt for online search engines.

A Sensis spokesman told Print21 that online growth would not affect its print business in any way. “We’ve been through a challenging time but our print business remains at the absolute core of our overall operation,” he said. “We will continue to print at the same volumes and innovate in print.”

Though he would not disclose numbers for the print run of White or Yellow Pages (printed by PMP and recently certified carbon neutral through the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Friendly program.), the Sensis spokesman said that 2010 would not see a decline. “Volumes will be similar this year,” he added.