3rd Oct 2005 07:01
ITE Group PLC03 October 2005 3 October 2005 ITE Group plc Pre-close trading update for the year ended 30 September 2005 ITE Group plc, the international exhibitions group specialising in emerging anddeveloping markets, has today issued the following update for the year ended 30September 2005, prior to entering its close period and ahead of its preliminaryresults announcement on 6 December 2005. The Group's second half performance has been stronger than expected, followingrecent events and exhibitions, with particular trading highlights including: • The Caspian Oil and Gas event, acquired in October last year and held in Baku in June, achieved a much improved result under ITE's stewardship. • The biennial Moscow Oil and Gas exhibition which was held in Moscow in June realised an increase of 10% in space sales and 15% in revenues over the 2003 event. • In Kazakhstan, the building and construction event, Kazbuild, enjoyed strong growth over last year's event • The World Petroleum Congress, which recently concluded in Johannesburg, South Africa, enjoyed strong delegate sales over the last two months. As a result of these performances ITE now expects its revenues for the yearended 30th September 2005 to exceed consensus forecasts by 4 to 5%. ITE also announces that it has recently signed a ten year co-operation agreementwith Crocus, a new Moscow exhibition venue, which will assist the growth ofseveral premier ITE events, including ITE's largest and most successful event,Mosbuild. This agreement is supplementary to ITE's existing co-operationagreements with other Moscow venues. Ian Tomkins, Chief Executive Officer of ITE, said: "The second half of the year included some particularly strong results in ourcore markets of Russia and Central Asia. The year ended very well with the WorldPetroleum Congress in Johannesburg, being an excellent showcase of ITE's majorevent organising capabilities, and confirms our leading position in the Oil andGas sector. The new long-term agreement with Crocus will help underpin the future growth ofseveral of ITE's Moscow based exhibitions, and the recent acquisition of theFootwear exhibitions in the UK further consolidates ITE's market leadership ofthe UK fashion sector." ENDS Enquiries: Ian Tomkins Tel: 0207 596 5000 Tim Spratt/Charlie Palmer:Chief Executive, ITE Group plc Financial Dynamics Tel 020 7831 3113 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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