McGraw-Hill Intent to Boost Value - Analyst Blog
13 September 2011 - 2:34PM
Zacks
With intent of boosting the shareholders value The
McGraw-Hill Companies Inc (MHP), recently announced
extensive growth and value measures, including the separation of
the company into two independent companies, McGraw-Hill
Markets and McGraw-Hill Education.
Since last year, the company has been reviewing its business
segments and the call was obvious as the company lost a substantial
market value in last 5 years and its rating agency was under fire
for its latest U.S. downgrade.
Moreover, the New York-based hedge fund Jana Partners and the
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, holding approximately 5.2% joint
stake in the company, were pushing it to split into four separate
firms.
Going with its plan, the company aims to create two "focused
companies” with optimal-size capital and cost arrangement for
amplifying client commitment and improving strategic and economic
suppleness while increasing management’s focus and
responsibility.
Further, the company added that it will focus on abridging costs
drastically to ensure competent operating channels and will also
accelerate the pace of share buybacks to a total of $1 billion for
the fiscal year 2011. Year-to-date, McGraw-Hill had repurchased
14.1 million shares for approximately $540.6 million.
McGraw-Hill added that it has engaged The Goldman Sachs
Group Inc. (GS) and Evercore Partners
Inc. (EVR) as the financial advisors to guide the company
during the evaluation period.
Getting to the Companies
McGraw-Hill Markets will be led by Terry McGraw as
Chairman, President and CEO and will focus on capital and
commodities markets and will include the iconic brands like
Standard & Poor's, S&P Indices, S&P Capital IQ and
Platts.
Moreover, McGraw-Hill Markets will also include the
businesses of J.D. Power and Associates and leading franchises in
the construction and aerospace industries.
The company added that it expects revenues of approximately $4
billion from McGraw-Hill Markets in fiscal 2011 with
approximately 40% of it coming from international avenues.
McGraw-Hill Education will be currently led by Robert
Bahash, existing President of the Education division as the company
is in the process of recruiting a new CEO for McGraw-Hill
Education.
McGraw-Hill Education will focus on education services
and digital learning and will speed up growth strategies and
supplement its growth through digital services and buyouts.
The company stated that it expects McGraw-Hill
Education to generate revenues of approximately $2.4 billion
in fiscal 2011.
Wrapping Up
McGraw-Hill expects to complete the transaction by the end of
2012 through a tax-free spin-off while the separation plan is
subject to the approval by the board of directors.
The McGraw-Hill Companies is a diversified publisher and
provider of financial information, and also offers media services
to customers in over 40 countries.
McGraw-Hill has regularly paid dividends since 1937. Since 1974,
the company has boosted its dividend at a compound annual dividend
growth rate of 9.8% and is now among those S&P 500 companies
(about 25), which have raised dividend annually for the
38th straight year.
Currently, we have a long-term Neutral rating on McGraw-Hill,
which competes with Pearson plc (PSO). Moreover,
the company holds a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a
short-term Hold recommendation.
EVERCORE PARTNR (EVR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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