19th Jul 2006 07:00
Informa PLC19 July 2006 19 July 2006 Informa plc Pre-close update for the six months ended 30 June 2006 Informa plc, the leading global information specialist, issues the followingupdate for the six months ended 30 June 2006, prior to entering its closeperiod. The interim results will be announced on 26 September 2006. The Group has performed well in the first half of the year and is currentlytrading comfortably in line with the Board's expectations. Informa's position of broad geographic strength combined with deep-seated localknowledge continues to deliver results. The range of international and nationalproducts and services creates a balanced portfolio with diverse andcomplementary revenue characteristics. Informa's ability to capture growth quickly during periods of positive marketconditions is highlighted by the first half year performance of its Dubai-basedMiddle East business. Middle East revenues which are largely events related, areenjoying strong organic growth both from increasing the size of existing eventsand adding new ones. Delegate registrations there are currently 37% ahead oflast year and flag ship multi-million dollar events such as Arab Health (www.arabhealthonline.com) and Middle East Electricity (www.middleeastelectricity.com) have significantly outperformed 2005. The pooling of events best practice from both IIR and Informa to create aproprietary blue print for operational success in the training and conferencesector, provides a solid foundation for Informa to build these revenue streams.This organic growth is driven both geographically as evidenced by Dubai and bysector, such as Telecoms, which has also performed strongly in the half year. The Performance Improvement group of companies, Informa's newest revenue stream,is demonstrating that in addition to its durable qualities it can deliver stronggrowth. Forum (www.forum.com) for example, had its best performing month thisMay since its acquisition by IIR in 2003. Existing clients in the commercialsector such as American Express and Irving Oil continue to launch newengagements. In addition, assisted by sister company Robbins-Gioia, Forum isexpanding its large government initiatives, such as Department for HomelandSecurity, a multi million dollar engagement. Informa's subscription-driven publishing businesses, which have minimaladvertising dependency, have started the year well. Books have recoveredstrongly from a softer 2005 for the market as a whole and the Humanities andSocial Sciences (HHS) Journals in particular continue to benefit on both sidesof the Atlantic from their market leading positions and the growth in HSSresearch. The net effect of foreign exchange fluctuations in the Group's results in thesix months has been minimal, despite the volatility of the dollar in the period.Matching costs to revenues across geographies, and spreading debt betweensterling, euros and dollars, confines the effect of currency fluctuation toprofit translation only. Peter Rigby, Informa's CEO, notes "Our strategy to assemble and develop acombination of specialist, high quality information businesses with diverse butcomplementary revenue characteristics, from the very dynamic to the stronglyresilient is working well. Events, Performance Improvement and Publishing areall delivering the organic growth we targeted. We move into the second halfconfident of another good financial performance in 2006." ENDS For further information please contact: Enquiries: Informa plc 020 7017 5000Peter Rigby, Chief ExecutiveTony Foye, Finance DirectorSusanna Kempe, Chief Marketing Officer Financial Dynamics 020 7831 3113Tim Spratt/Charlie Palmer This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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