21st Apr 2015 13:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - Publishing and events company Informa PLC Tuesday expressed confidence in meeting expectations for 2015, saying it had started the year in line with the objectives of its three-year investment programme, dubbed the "growth acceleration plan."
The company did not specify whether these expectations were its own, or market expectations. According to consensus forecasts from nine analysts provided by Morningstar, Informa is expected to post a pretax profit of GBP335.88 million for the year.
At the time of its 2014 results in February, the company had said that assuming current exchange rates continue, it expects to deliver earnings per share growth in 2015.
The FTSE 250-listed company said underlying growth in the first quarter to the end of March was solid, though including one-off non-annual events and the planned movement of events between quarters, revenue fell 0.5%.
The group said the underlying trends in its academic publishing business remain robust, with the integration of the Medical Journals business on track. It added the performance of its business intelligence unit has stabilised amid a focus on customer and subscription management in the division under the investment programme.
In the Knowledge & Networking business, underlying trading is in line with expectations, with strong performances in the UK and the US offset by ongoing weakness in the Russian market. Informa said trading in the business is on track, with low single-digit like-for-like revenue declines in the first quarter, though headline revenue is down around 10% owing to the planned re-scheduling of two events to the second quarter.
In its Global Exhibitions division, Informa said it is encouraged by the performance of the US businesses it acquired in 2014 but reiterated that headline growth in the unit has been boosted by the movement of certain events from the second to the first quarter. Overall, first quarter organic growth in the Global Exhibitions business hit 15.6% on the back of these effects.
Informa said its targeted acquisition strategy, which led it to make a number of US acquisitions during 2014, has added scale and international reach to its Exhibitions portfolio. The integration of these businesses is on track, and their operating performances have "met or exceeded" its ambitions.
"We have started the year in line with our Growth Acceleration Plan objectives for 2015 and remain confident of meeting expectations for the full-year. Both Academic Publishing and, in particular, Global Exhibitions are well placed to continue to grow attractively. Our Business Intelligence and Knowledge & Networking businesses are progressing to plan," said Informa Chief Executive Stephen Carter.
Informa put in place the three-year investment programme last July after it appointed then St Ives PLC Chief Executive Patrick Martell to head up its new business intelligence division, split its operations into four divisions and undertook a strategic review of its operations. The resulting three-year growth programme is expected to cost between GBP60 million and GBP90 million over its duration, with the aim of having all four divisions delivering positive organic growth by the end of 2016.
Numis reiterated its Buy rating for Informa, noting that there was "nothing earth shatteringly new" in its statement, but it was good to see a small moderation in the organic decline in its Business Intelligence business.
Liberum reiterated its sell rating, citing concerns about the "medium-term quality" of a large chunk of Informa's assets.
"For example, their Academic business has a large percentage of revenues from books, from where university libraries are shifting spending and a return to organic revenue growth at Business Intelligence may take longer than expected given the structural issues at the business," Liberum said.
Shares in Informa are trading up 1.8% at 585.00 pence Tuesday afternoon.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAllianceLONDON, additional reporting by Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Informa