Media Forum: Should Emap be broken up?

Would Emap be better off splitting up business and consumer, Alasdair Reid asks.

Companies that call in the McKinsey management consultancy must resign themselves to a life (over the medium term, as far as visibility allows) punctuated by many moments of unsought-after and unwitting comedy. The McKinsey method - insisting that everyone involved in its brainstorming sessions must be prepared to 'think the unthinkable' - can lead bemused executives into surreal territory.

But in Emap's case, this isn't funny at all. Until it admitted it was calling in the consultants, few observers really understood the precariousness of Emap's situation. A decade ago, the company had an almost militant clarity of vision - it exuded a confidence and sense of destiny in just about everything it did.

Back then, Emap had no need for the likes of McKinsey. But much has happened in the past few years, notably the Petersen debacle in the US - bought for dollars 1 billion, sold three years later for dollars 366 million, a deficit that cost the then chief executive, Kevin Hand, his job. Since then, Emap has also retreated from the French market, selling to Mondadori for pounds 380 million last year.

Now, it has responded to a run of poor results and profits warnings by asking McKinsey to point it in the right direction once more. It shouldn't be hard, according to some sources in the City. They argue that the solution to Emap's current problems is obvious.

It's the company's consumer media assets - principally magazines and radio properties - that are the weakest performers. Simple. Sell them off. Split the company in two - demerging the business-to-business assets, where all the growth is to be found. This would have been done months ago, some fund managers say, if the Emap decision-makers weren't so emotionally attached to the idea that they work for a glamorous consumer media company.

Thankfully, though, we know one thing for sure - Tom Moloney, Emap's current chief executive, can sleep easily. Like many a football manager before him, he has been given a vote of confidence by his board.