This report by Bryan Garnier & Co not exactly cheering reading for legal publishers
They write? :
In this report we examine prospects for the Scientific, Technical and Medical (STM) journal and Legal markets and initiate coverage of
three European stocks exposed to this sub-sector: Wolters Kluwer (BUY, TP ?16.10), Reed Elsevier Plc and NV (SELL, TP 450p/?6.90)
and Informa (SELL, TP 215p). Our main conclusion is that there are significant headwinds building in US Academic and Legal markets.
…/….
Severe contraction in US Legal markets. Since November 2007, y/y growth in total US legal employment turned negative, as firms
aggressively downsized. Given the dire state of the legal industry, we anticipate weak demand for Reed Elsevier?s and Wolters Kluwer?s suite
of legal publishing products. We favour Tax & Accounting exposure as we believe consolidation is largely complete within the industry whereas
it is likely to retard Legal growth and pricing power.
