That softness contributed to a 10% decline to $215.8m in McGraw-Hill’s Business-to-Business Group revenue. Other factors were declines in advertising revenue at magazines Aviation Week, BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill Construction.

Auto industry woes plagued JD Power in Q1, with car manufacturers having cut back on research spend as vehicle sales plummeted in response to the credit crunch.

Second-quarter revenue and operating profit for the information and media segment – in which the B2B Group sits – were also affected by the conversion of a number of JD Power syndicated studies to an online platform.

“As a result,” McGraw-Hill said, “an estimated $3.4m of revenue and $2.9m of operating profit that would have been recognised in the second quarter were deferred and will be recognised ratably over the 12-month service period.”

Information and media revenue was down 11.5% to $236.2m while operating profit fell 42% to $14.4m, including a restructuring charge of $4m.