Ascential ascends on dividend hike and potential for events disposals

Events organiser and business information provider Ascential has hiked its dividend payout to shareholders 19% and announced a strategic review of its exhibitions business.

For the calendar year, revenue grew 25% to £375.8m but just 6.4% at an organic level that excludes currency benefits and any acquisitions, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased almost 25% to £119.5m even though margin shrank slightly to 31.8% from 32.0% as a reflection of planned product investment.

Adjusted earnings per share jumped 36% to 18.3p and the full year dividend was hiked 19% to 5.6p.

At the end of the year net debt stood at £271.5m, 2.3 times EBITDA, with leverage up from 2.1 over the year as a 101% cash conversion rate increased the year's cash generation to £102.2m despite investment and acquisition activity.

The acquisitions of MediaLink and One Click Retail had progressed to plan and together with the sale of its final publishing brands, chief executive Duncan Painter said Ascential's focus had been increased on its primary brands, "enabling us to accelerate product innovation, grow our market leadership positions and further diversify our revenue internationally" as well as generating good levels of cash flows to fund investment, shareholder returns and acquisitions.

"As we look to 2018 and beyond we will build upon our reputation for enabling customers to succeed in the digital economy in the areas of product design, marketing and sales. We will continue to critically assess the potential of our brands to support these goals and where to allocate capital."

He said the strategic review of the £78m-revenue-a-year exhibitions business was one such exercise, looking at Spring Fair, Autumn Fair, Bett, CWIEME, Pure, Glee and BVE. Giving a clue at to his intentions, Painter said to maximise shareholders returns, the company's focus as a business was best targeted at "brands that support customer success in the digital economy".

"These brands are all number one in their markets and are of a size and scale that allows us to consider a variety of options to maximize their future value and enhance our overall organic growth rates."

He said the level of forward bookings in 2018 was encouraging.