Weaker demand for financial products led Europe's biggest legal and tax publisher, Wolters Kluwer NV, to cut its forecast for 2008 revenue growth on Monday, sending its shares as much as 6 percent lower.
Reuters go on to report that Wolters Kluwer said that the publisher now expected revenue in constant currencies and excluding the impact of acquisitions and divestments to grow by 3 percent, compared with a previous 4 percent growth outlook.
"The impact of recent market conditions in our non-subscription product lines, particularly within Corporate & Financial Services, requires that we adjust full-year organic revenue growth expectations," Wolters Kluwer Chief Executive Nancy McKinstry said in a statement.
Analysts said the weakness in the financial sector was not surprising.
"We assumed this could be compensated by strong sales in Tax Accounting & Legal and Legal, Tax & Regulatory Europe, together accounting for more than 60 percent of total revenues," SNS Securities analyst Michel Veul said in a note.
"Due to the financial turmoil, our legal and financial clients in the United States postpone their spending on our one-off publications," Wolters Kluwer spokeswoman Caroline Wouters said, declining to give details
