10th Mar 2020 08:46
(Alliance News) - Informa PLC on Tuesday said it will not give any market guidance for 2020, due to the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 virus epidemic, as it has rescheduled or cancelled 128 event brands for the year,
However, the business events and publishing company reported a strong 2019 performance, with double-digit rises in profit and revenue.
For the recent year, Informa reported a 13% rise in pretax profit to GBP318.7 million from GBP282.1 million in 2018.
On an adjusted basis, however, pretax profit rose by 26% year-on-year to GBP821.4 million from GBP649.7 million, above consensus expectations of GBP809.5 million.
The higher profit figure was driven by strong revenue growth of 22% to GBP2.89 billion from GBP2.37 billion the prior year, also ahead of market forecasts of GBP2.86 billion by 1.0%.
On an underlying basis, revenue rose by 3.1%.
By division, Informa Markets remained the largest contributor to revenue, which grew by 41% to GBP1.45 billion, driven by a full-year contribution from UBM.
Informa Tech revenue was up 46% to USD256.2 million, also benefiting from UBM, while at Taylor & Francis it rose by 5.0% to GBP559.6 million on solid subscription renewals and positive currency movements.
However, Informa Connect revenue decreased by 0.7% to GBP275.6 million, following the sale of the Life Sciences Media portfolio. Informa Intelligence revenue dropped by 0.7% to 2020, after the divesting of the Agribusiness and Industry & Infrastructure portfolios in the year.
Informa declared a final dividend of 15.95 pence per share, bringing the total payout to 23.5p, a 7.3% rise from 21.9p the prior year.
Looking ahead, Informa said it has implemented its Covid-19 action plan, which includes a programme to reschedule or cancel its event brands.
So far, the group is looking to reschedule 45 large events brands, which together account for budgeted revenue of GBP350 million. In addition, 70 smaller brands representing GBP50 million in budgeted revenue have been rescheduled, while 13 brands have been cancelled, reflecting GBP25 million in revenue.
"In 2019, the Informa group delivered a sixth consecutive year of growth in revenues, adjusted operating profits, adjusted earnings per share, free cash flow and dividend," said Chief Executive Stephen Carter.
"Our subscriptions-related businesses, which account for around 35% of revenue, continue to grow consistently. However, we are facing a 2020 impact from COVID-19 in our Events-related businesses and so we have used our strong customer and supplier relationships to swiftly deploy a material Postponement Programme, shifting our Events Calendar to later dates in 2020. Our Brands and strong platforms continue to provide attractive opportunities for further market specialisation and future growth," Carter added.
Shares in Informa were up 4.5% at 589.40 pence on Tuesday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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