Informa Group has issued a trading update to coincide with its Annual General Meeting in London, with the Board remaining confident of meeting full-year expectations.
Stephen A. Carter, Group Chief Executive, Informa PLC, said: “Informa has performed well through the first four months of the year, with steady trading across our enlarged portfolio of specialist international brands. This leaves us well placed to meet our targets for 2019 and deliver a further year of growth in revenue, adjusted profit, earnings, cashflow and dividends.”
The company statement looked at several areas of the business:
Informa Markets
As Informa approaches the completion of its one-year Accelerated Integration Plan, the performance of its largest business remains strong, the statement said, “reflecting the quality of our brands and depth in attractive specialist markets. Eleven of our Top 30 events have successfully run and, combined with forward bookings, this provides high levels of visibility over this year’s budgeted revenue. This gives us confidence of continued performance in 2019, with a target of 4.5%+ underlying revenue growth.
“Our increased international reach creates balance and breadth across the portfolio, allowing us to manage volatility in individual markets or regions.
“In the early months of the year, trading in North America and China has remained strong. This has been balanced by some ongoing softness in the Middle East, where overall activity levels are lower, particularly in Real Estate and Construction, which is also affected by the build-up and increasing in-market commitment to Expo 2020.”
Informa Connect
The company said this streamlined portfolio of specialist branded confexes and events continued to trade well, with good performances year-to-date and pacing trends for the higher volume second half of the year on track, leaving it well placed to deliver our 2.5%+ underlying growth target in 2019.
Following a programme of disciplined portfolio rationalisation, Informa Connect is now focused on two core, growing verticals, Life Sciences and Global Finance.
“We have real depth within these specialist markets through a range of content-led events and specialist digital content brands, providing increasingly predictable earnings through a broad range of revenue streams,” the company statement said.
Informa Tech
In 2019, the task for Informa Tech was to establish itself as a unified brand in the market, with the company reporting trading across these businesses “encouraging” through the early months of 2019 and forward bookings. Informa Tech is confident in delivering its target of 2%+ underlying revenue growth across the year.
The company’s strong market positions in the international technology market was further supported by the recent addition of the TMT portfolio from IHS Markit. That agreement extends the international reach of Informa Tech through its strong presence in Asia and North America.
Informa Intelligence
The company reported its specialist information and intelligence business continues to deliver steady improvement in operating performance and growth, with a target of c.3% for the year.
