"I assume it's the same for the 4c."Wrong. 4C is cash flow only,...

"I assume it's the same for the 4c."

Wrong. 4C is cash flow only, NOT revenue. You can use any accounting textbook if you are unsure about the difference.

If you pay in advance for a subscription (magazine, NEA whatever) your payment shows up as cash flow the moment it is received. It also is added to cash in the balance sheet and simultaneously to a an entry called deferred revenue on the liability side of the balance sheet. During the service period the deferred revenue gradually gets realized ie turns up on the income statement as revenue.

You might still be right about q4 being the low point in cash flow as well, but not because of your misunderstanding of the 4c.

NEA's underlying enterprise business has been growing steadily even before the paywall was introduced. Cash receipts for q1.12.sep12 were 2.6m up 40pc y/y and 2.7m up 60pc in q2 (no impact of paywall yet on CF in q2). Using a slower 30 pc growth this year, cash from enterprise could hit 3.5m a quarter for h1. That means they only need 1.5m a quarter from the new SME business to reach the average 5m in the last two quarters - seems achievable to me as SC said they are continuing to sign up new customers every week.