29th Jun 2007 07:03
Informa PLC29 June 2007 Informa plc Interim Pre-close update Informa has performed well in the first half of the year and is trading in linewith the Board's expectations across all three of its business activities:events, Performance Improvement and publishing. The interim results will beannounced on 30 August 2007. Events Informa's events portfolio is continuing to grow well. This is being fuelled inparticular by the continued strengthening of the company's Large Scale Events(the "must attend" events in each industry). In 2006 these top 200 eventsaccounted for 40% of Informa's total events' revenue and 70% of our events'operating profit. The strength of these leading event brands, which cover 70industry sectors, creates strong barriers to entry, the opportunity forgeo-cloning, and the ability to meet customer information needs using multiplemedia formats. Cityscape, the world's largest property investment and development event, is agood example of this. In 2002 Cityscape was held in a hotel in Dubai with 500square metres of exhibition space and 1000 visitors. In 2006 the event had over25,000 square metres and 35000 participants in the Dubai InternationalExhibition Centre and is on course for further growth in this year's event inOctober. In May this year, Cityscape was cloned as the inaugural event in theAbu Dhabi Centre, attracting 15,670 participants from 71 countries. In additionCityscape China and Cityscape Asia launched profitably this year. CityscapeIndia will take place in November. The Cityscape Magazine, launched early in2007, was profitable from the first issue. The Cityscape Market IntelligenceService, a subscription-based online information service, launches in October. Performance Improvement The Performance Improvement (PI) businesses, which help both government andcorporate clients meet their strategic goals by enabling their employees tooperate more effectively, are continuing to enjoy strong client retention andnew business development. International revenues are increasing as multi-national clients look to instilbest practice and consistency across their global operations. The franchisebuy-back programme is progressing well with Forum (the PI leadershipspecialists) acquiring its Asian franchises in April this year. Robbins-Gioia,(the PI programme management specialists) with 90% of revenues from the USFederal Government, has started the year particularly well, benefiting from the2006 investment in its intellectual property and sales teams. Publishing Informa's subscription-driven businesses, which have minimal advertisingdependency, have also begun the year strongly. The Academic & Scientific,Commercial and Professional divisions are all gaining from the move toelectronic delivery of information and services. The increased utility andcustomer value from digital delivery has provided extra pricing power and marketpenetration. Digital archives, data services and daily information provisionhave all contributed to good growth further enhanced by cross leveraging eventbrands and publishing PI intellectual property. David Gilbertson, Informa's Chief Executive, notes "Our philosophy is to behavelike a small company, however big we get. This continues to pay off. By runninga flat organisation, staying close to our markets and rewarding people for thesuccess they create, we ensure that we have a business full of entrepreneurs whomove quickly to capture growth and just as quickly to defend their profits. Wemove into the second half confident of another good financial performance in2007." ENDS Further Enquiries: Informa plc Tel: 020 7017 5000 Tony Foye, Finance Director Susanna Kempe, CMO and Head of Investor Relations Tel: 020 7017 5796 Maitland Tel: 020 7379 5151 William Clutterbuck Emma Burdett Notes to Editors: Informa provides specialist, high value information to the global academic &scientific, professional, and commercial markets via Publishing, Events andPerformance Improvement. At the heart of every Informa product and service isresearch-based, proprietary information for a targeted, expert audience. Informapublishes approximately 2,500 subscription based products and services deliveredelectronically and in hardcopy, and 45,000 books. Each year Informa producesover 12,000 events around the world, powered by a marketing database of over 20million contacts. It has an unparalleled portfolio of brands including LloydsList, Routledge, Taylor and Francis, IIR, IBC, AchieveGlobal, ESI and Euroforum.Informa operates in 80 countries and employs over 7,500 people. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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