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3 Discontinued operations
Discontinued operations relate to the following disposals made in the year (see note 31):
- Government Solutions (sold 15 February 2007)
- Datamark (acquired with eCollege and subsequently sold on 31 July 2007)
- Les Echos (sold 24 December 2007)
The results of Government solutions (previously included in the Professional segment) and Les Echos (previously included in the FT Publishing segment) have been included in discontinued operations for both 2006 and 2007 and have been consolidated up to the date of sale. Datamark was sold immediately following its acquisition as part of the eCollege transaction and consequently none of the results for this business have been consolidated.
On 22 February 2008 the Group completed the sale of its Data Management business (previously included in the Professional segment) and this business has been included in discontinued operations for the full year in both 2006 and 2007. In anticipation of the loss on sale, an impairment to held for sale goodwill has been charged to the income statement in 2007.
The assets and liabilities of the Data Management business have been reported as held for sale in the 31 December 2007 balance sheet. At 31 December 2006 held for sale assets and liabilities relate to Government Solutions (see note 30).
An analysis of the results and cash flows of discontinued operations are as follows:
| All figures in £ millions | 2007 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government Solutions |
Data Management |
Les Echos | Datamark | Total | |
| Sales | 29 | 56 | 82 | – | 167 |
| Operating profit | 2 | 12 | 1 | – | 15 |
| Goodwill impairment | – | (97) | – | – | (97) |
| (Loss)/profit before tax | 2 | (85) | 1 | – | (82) |
| Attributable tax expense | (1) | (4) | – | – | (5) |
| (Loss)/profit after tax | 1 | (89) | 1 | – | (87) |
| Profit/(loss) on disposal of discontinued operations before tax |
(19) | – | 165 | – | 146 |
| Attributable tax (expense)/benefit | (93) | – | – | 7 | (86) |
| (Loss)/profit for the year from discontinued operations |
(111) | (89) | 166 | 7 | (27) |
| Operating cash flows | (8) | 11 | 4 | – | 7 |
| Investing cash flows | – | (1) | 4 | – | 3 |
| Financing cash flows | (4) | (10) | (7) | – | (21) |
| Total cash flows | (12) | – | 1 | – | (11) |
| All figures in £ millions | 2006 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government Solutions |
Data Management |
Les Echos |
Total | |
| Sales | 286 | 61 | 86 | 433 |
| Operating profit | 22 | 13 | 5 | 40 |
| Profit before tax | 22 | 13 | 5 | 40 |
| Attributable tax expense | (8) | (5) | (2) | (15) |
| Profit after tax | 14 | 8 | 3 | 25 |
| Profit/(loss) on disposal of discontinued operations before tax |
– | – | – | – |
| Attributable tax expense | – | – | – | – |
| Profit for the year from discontinued operations |
14 | 8 | 3 | 25 |
| Operating cash flows | 20 | 9 | 4 | 33 |
| Investing cash flows | (8) | (2) | – | (10) |
| Financing cash flows | (1) | (7) | (7) | (15) |
| Total cash flows | 11 | – | (3) | 8 |