Arena Events Group trades in line with 2017 expectations

Arena Events Group announced on Friday that underlying trading for the year to 31 December 2017 was in line with market expectations.

The AIM-traded firm said that in the last quarter of 2017, a number of significant projects were successfully delivered in each region.

In the UK, a temporary television studio was constructed and handed over to ITV for the relaunch of its Dancing on Ice show, while in Asia the group won a two-year contract for the CJ golf trophy in South Korea and in the US a number of major events were delivered including the temporary facilities for the Bryant Park ice rink in New York.

During the second half of 2017, the group increased capital expenditure to support various projects, which was anticipated to improve profitability in the current year.

In addition, working capital increased slightly and net debt was expected to be around £11.5m at the period end.

The board said the current financial year started well, and the group had already delivered several high profile events such as the Eurasia Cup in Kuala Lumpur, the HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championships and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“We made strong progress in 2017, growing the business organically, commencing trading on AIM in July and declaring our maiden interim dividend in September,” said chief executive Greg Lawless.

“As a management team, we continue to evaluate a number of acquisition opportunities which we believe will further contribute to the growth of our business.

“The board continues to remain confident in the prospects for the group.”

Arena Events Group said it expected to announce its audited results for the year ended 31 December in April.