Informa impresses with 'strong' exhibitions and 'steady' remainder

Full year numbers from Informa are looking increasingly assured after the first quarter of the year, thanks to strong trading at its exhibitions arm, "steady" trading from events, business and academic publishing and a faster integration of last years £1.2bn acquisition of Penton.

The FTSE 100 group has already received or contracted more than 90% of 2017 budgeted revenues for its key exhibitions arm, having run 14 of its top 20 events, leaving it confident of a year of "attractive growth".

Chief executive Stephen Carter said the company was on track for a fourth consecutive year of growth in revenue, earnings and cashflow: "We continue to make good progress in 2017, benefiting from our strengthened operating capabilities, increased scale and international breadth."

He said the focus for this year is clear: "continued delivery of improving performance and returns from our growth acceleration plan, alongside the effective and efficient integration of Penton Information Services".

The strategy to build international scale across the exhibitions portfolio was said to be delivering strong performances within verticals including life science and health and nutrition, helped by the addition of Penton exhibitions.

While there were no figures provided on year-on-year trends in each division, events was said to have traded "steadily" in the year to date, with its more streamlined portfolio of "high quality, brand-led confexes" focused on three end markets: life sciences, finance and TMT, with the latter gearing up for the launch of the London Tech Week festival in June with more than 40,000 attendees expected.

Likewise, business intelligence has "steadily" continued the operating momentum from last year, with renewal rates remain around 90% and new customer activity is improving following a favourable response to the release new products and upgraded platforms in several verticals.

US-based Penton Information Services has seen trading remain on track, with "good growth in events and the expected managed decline of print revenue mitigated by digital".

"The integration of Penton is progressing faster than planned and so we are confident of reaching our target run rate of £14m annualised net operating synergies by year-end."

Academic publishing also "remains steady", with good growth in journals balanced by some areas of weakness in books, though by the end of May, more than 80% of 2017 budgeted journals revenue will have been received.

Informa shares rose almost 5% on Friday.

But analyst Roddy Davidson at Shore Capital said the update was framed on a segmental basis with no figures provided on YoY trends, which "makes it difficult to draw specific conclusions on the group’s financial performance".

"We have been encouraged by Informa’s progress in re-positioning itself to improve medium–term growth potential through implementation of its Growth Acceleration Plan and complementary acquisitions in the events space," he said.

"That said there are no clear synergies between its two principal areas of operations and our current forecasts suggest 22% aggregate growth in both EPS and DPS over a three year view which although a solid proposition, does not compare favourably with prospects elsewhere in the Media sector."