Aspermont, publisher of PetroleumNews.net, recorded a 24% increase to $7.03 million in revenue derived from its integrated print, online and conference media businesses.

The profit after tax for the core media operations for the six-month period was $1.341 million - an increase of 153% on the corresponding period of 2006-07.

Overall profit after tax for the period was $6.789 million, a result influenced by a re-rating of the company's corporate investment book.

The company attributed the improvement to Aspermont's ongoing ability to deliver consistently high-quality content to its readers and a unique and fully integrated set of advertising solutions.

"These strong results reflect our commitment to providing quality products across target sectors and an ability to incubate new revenue streams from within our cash flow position," CEO Colm O'Brien said.

"We are optimistic that we will achieve a record result for 2007-08 from our core media interests."

O'Brien said Aspermont's results had been underpinned by the continued strength in the resources and construction sectors, and achieved through a strong performance in advertising sales (up 35%) and stable subscription support.

They were backed up by a number of initiatives, including the relaunch of the extensive online companies directory, the introduction of dedicated search engines for selected industries on the Aspermont online news services, the launch of SuperLiving.com.au, a mainstream news and information service targeting the 45+ age demographic and the Consult print and online publications for the medical profession.

Aspermont's conferencing business, Resourceful Events, has continued its growth into new sectors with the launch of new events in its "Excellence" series and covering investment in China and Latin America being launched this year. New events covering the environment, agriculture and infrastructure sectors are also planned.

During the half-year, Aspermont increased its stake in leading United Kingdom specialist publisher Mining Communications Limited from 34.3% to 39.3%.

Aspermont publishes a dozen print and 11 online news services including MiningNews.net and MiningNewsPremium.net, International Longwall News, ConstructionIndustryNews.net, PetroleumNews.net, SupplyChainLogisticsNews.net, EnvironmentalManagementNews.net (in joint venture with WME), BioTechnologyNews.net, PNGIndustryNews.net, OfficeProfessional.com.au, SuperLiving.com.au and ConsultMagazine.net (in joint venture with Virtual Medical Centre).