Printing and publishing group Caxton & CTP Publishers has reported marginally lower full-year earnings, as it found the past year’s trading environment toughgoing.The group on Friday reported a 5.7% decline in headline earnings per share to 168.6c for the year ended June, with revenue falling 1.8% to R6.59bn. Profit was 3% lower at R579.6m.A dividend of 80c per share was declared, up from 70c a year ago.Caxton, publisher of The Citizen, Farmer’s Weekly and several community newspapers, said it was directly affected by consumer demand in almost all aspects of its various diverse businesses. “The downturn in the world economy since the intensifying of the Middle East conflict has eroded consumer sentiment and had a direct effect on our group,” it said.It added that at the half-year reporting period there was some reason to be optimistic that economic conditions, including lower inflation and interest rates combined with a stronger rand, favoured better growth prospects. However, this was dashed by the Iran war, which saw a reversal of the optimism with fuel prices, inflation and rand volatility increasing and led to the Reserve Bank hiking interest rates.“The current world economic outlook continues to impact consumer confidence and spending negatively. The declining revenue trends experienced in the previous reporting period intensified further in the period to financial year end,” it said.The pressure on revenue combined with new inflationary cost pressures and a reduced dividend from its investment in Mpact saw the group’s overall performance fall marginally for the full financial year.It said the decline in revenue was felt mainly in its local newspaper publishing and printing operations and partly offset by some growth in the packaging and stationery segment. Raw material pricing remained relatively stable during the period, but it noted that there has been a recent upward movement in pricing on the back of increased logistics and energy costs. The group faced significant increases in distribution costs as the higher diesel price led to surcharges that were difficult to recover from customers. This, combined with increased water and electricity and diesel costs for generators, placed cost containment under pressure.Looking ahead, the group said the economic environment is likely to continue on the same muted and flat trajectory, except possibly for some relief should the war in the Middle East be resolved. Caxton will continue to explore new markets and acquisitions that can be integrated into its facilities, it said.Business Day