UK – British exhibition and conference organiser ITE Group has reported a drop of almost 50 per cent in first-half pre-tax profit.
The company partially blamed the loss on weak currency exchanges, but has positive expectations for the coming financial year.
In the six months to 31 March 2010, ITE reported a pre-tax profit of £5.6m, down from £11.1m for the same period in 2009. However, first-half volume sales rose to 203,600sqm from 188,600sqm in 2010.
CEO of ITE Group, Russell Taylor, claims the exhibition industry is late cycle in its response to the economic environment. “As expected, the first half was challenging as the Group traded through the low-point in the economic cycle and our events reflected the full impact of the recession,” he said.
ITE Group, which gets almost 65 per cent of its business from Russia, had £98.1m booked for the year as of 14 May, down from £103.3m last year.
