United Business Media - Does Anyone Get It?

United Business Media (UBM) the b2b information company that is not owned by Warren Buffet (He bought Business Wire) announced business results which should be very encouraging to investors. Dividend and EPS are up 15% on an increase in Revenues of approximately 10%. Sounds good. It would appear that the business model is levered so that incremental revenues fall to profits faster than to expenses.

The press release reads very superficially. For a company built on a press release service you would think they would spend some more time reaching out to investors and providing some critical commentary on their business units. They have stayed with some incredibly superficial comments which are really forms of bafflegab. Read this quote and tell me if its a compelling reason to buy into a company or is it just a self congratulatory comment served up by executives who think they will get really big bonuses;

"United Business Media's consistent growth in earnings per share is evidence of continued success in our strategic development of UBM as a set of focused b2b media businesses which offer integrated suites of media products tailored for specific professional and commercial communities. We continue to direct our businesses towards vertical b2b markets and geographies that provide opportunities for sustainable, profitable growth. Our businesses are generating a growing proportion of their revenues and profits from products which take advantage of the long term structural changes taking place in media markets."

That’s really stroking yourself.