Informa on track after bumper first half

Business information and events specialist Informa reported a robust operating and financial performance in its first-half on Thursday, with impressive growth in revenue, adjusted operating profit, and free cash flow.

The FTSE 100 firm said revenue rocketed 53% year-on-year to £1.52bn while adjusted operating profit surged 102.9% to £413.5m.

Free cash flow was 62.8% higher than the same period last year, reaching £224.6m.

The company said its underlying revenue’s growth rate was 31.9%, while underlying adjusted operating profit rose 56.5% during the same period.

Informa said its operating margin meanwhile expanded by 670 basis points to reach 27.2%, surpassing full-year guidance thanks to the higher underlying revenues, as well as strong operating leverage.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share were 134.4% firmer on the year at 22.5p.

On a statutory basis, revenue rose to £1.52bn from £993.5m year-on-year, while statutory operating profit increased to £298.9m from £62m.

Statutory diluted earnings per share jumped to 17.9p from 2.6p year-on-year.

With a strong first-half trading performance under its belt, as well as robust forward bookings, Informa said it was on track to achieve full-year results at the top-end of its guidance range.

“We are focussed on building a better, broader and more scalable business, which is reflected in a very strong first half performance, putting us on track to meet or beat our guidance for 2023, with further momentum visible into 2024 and 2025,” said group chief executive officer Stephen Carter.

“As the ‘leading and largest owner-operator of B2B events, specialist data and digital services internationally, we see continuing strong demand from B2B customers, giving us confidence in further growth.”

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.