Sir Crispin Davis, the outgoing chief executive of Reed Elsevier, will leave the publisher on a positive note after delivering revenues for 2008 that were ahead of expectations.

Shares in the company – which has so far proved relatively resilient to global economic turmoil, though it expects this year to be tougher – rose 21½p, to 542p after it reported sales last year of £5.3bn, up from £4.5bn in 2007. Pre-tax profits fell to £617m (£812m), partly because of £225m of financing costs related to its £5.7bn of debt.