Yell posts £1.14 Billion loss on writedown of Spanish unit

Yell Group Plc, the publisher of the U.K.’s Yellow Pages phone directory, posted a full-year net loss after writing down the value of its Spanish unit by £1.27 billion ($1.96 billion).

The company claimed that the writedown recognises the effects of the long and deep recession, but does not affect cash flow, adjusted earnings or debt covenant headroom. The net loss for the year ended March 31 was £1.14 billion, compared with net income of £206.7 million for the previous year.

Yell bought Madrid-based TPI, now Yell Publicidad, for 3.07 billion euros in 2006 to make up for slower growth in Britain and to expand into Europe and Latin America. Yell’s predicted sales in the three months ending June 30 will drop 11 per cent and EBITDA will fall by approximately 20 per cent.

Yell said its priority in the current fiscal year is to review its funding options and assess the “most appropriate steps to take toward refinancing the group.”

In a separate statement, Yell said Chairman Bob Scott won’t stand for re-election at the annual general meeting on July 24. The board will now look for a successor, the company said.

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