McGraw-Hill Companies has better than expected end to 2009

McGraw-Hill Companies, the family-controlled publisher, announced yesterday better than expected earnings for the fourth-quarter of 2009. The company was helped to profit by the sale of one of its flagship titles, Business Week, and a recovery in the fortunes of the ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
 
Net income for the fourth quarter increased by 44% to $167.3 million and the business saw the first quarterly increase in revenue since the third-quarter of 2007. The company also announced it is looking to new business areas once again, most notably working on applications for Apple's much-anticipated tablet computer.
 
Harold McGraw III, fourth generation chairman, president and chief executive of the McGraw-Hill Companies, said: "Continued recovery in the corporate new issue market at Standard & Poor's Credit Market Services and an upswing in higher education, professional and international markets enabled us to finish 2009 positively and set the stage for more growth in 2010.
 
"Increased revenue and tight cost controls contributed to substantial improvements in our operating margin in the fourth quarter compared to the same period last year," he concluded.
 
Business Week, one of McGraw-Hills' longest running publications, was sold in December to the financial news agency Bloomberg for $5 million in cash, while Bloomberg also assumed an unspecified amount of Business Week's liabilities. (Click here to read our coverage of the story)
 
Harold McGraw III is the fourth-generation of the founding McGraw family to work in the 121-year-old business and the sixth family president.

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