2nd Oct 2006 07:00
ITE Group PLC02 October 2006 2 October 2006 ITE Group plc Pre-close trading update for the year ended 30 September 2006 ITE Group plc, the international exhibitions group specialising in emerging anddeveloping markets, has today issued the following update for the year ended 30September 2006, prior to entering its close period and ahead of its preliminaryresults announcement on 5 December 2006. The Group's second half performance reflects the good trading conditionsexperienced by ITE throughout Russia and the CIS territories. Like for likesales and revenues growth in the second half has been more than 10% over thecomparable period last year and as a result full year revenues are now expectedto exceed consensus forecasts by 2-3%. Since its interim announcement in May, ITE's more significant events include: • In May, Astana Build (Kazakhstan) and Oil and Gas Uzbekistan bothreported revenue growth of more than 20%. • The Caspian Oil and Gas exhibition and conference (Azerbaijan),acquired by ITE in October 2004, continued its growth with a 9% increase inrevenues over last year. • MODA and MODA Footwear, the Group's UK fashion events were held inAugust at the NEC Birmingham. The recently acquired Footwear event which hasnow been fully integrated into the MODA fashion event showed excellent growthover its pre-acquisition performance last August. • The planned re-launch of the Moscow International Motor Show at theCrocus venue was delivered with a new September dateline and a revised pricingstructure. The changes were positively received by our exhibitors, and revenuesfor this event exceeded ITE's expectations. • A very strong performance was delivered by the Group's principalconstruction event in Kazakhstan, Kazbuild, which facilitated by the newlyconstructed pavilion in Almaty reported revenue growth of 25%. • Baltic Building Week, the St.Petersburg construction event held inSeptember reported revenue growth of 8% over last year's event. • Worldfood Moscow also in September reported revenue growth of 10% overlast year's event. Other important developments since May include ITE's agreement to buy out the10% minority shareholding in its MODA fashion business this October and agreeingterms with Messe Frankfurt for the launch of Automechanika Moscow in May 2007. Ian Tomkins, Chief Executive Officer of ITE, said: "The second half of the year reflected continued good trading across our coremarkets in Russia and Central Asia. The Construction and Oil and Gas sectorswere particularly strong. We are also very pleased with the results of ourefforts in re-positioning the Moscow International Motor Show this year, andwith the recently announced co-operation agreement for the launch ofAutomechanika Moscow with Messe Frankfurt." ENDS Enquiries: Ian Tomkins,Chief Executive ITE Group plc 0207 596 5000Charlie Palmer/Tim Spratt: Financial Dynamics 020 7831 3113 Note to editors The media company ITE Group plc has a full listing on the LSE and specialises inB2B exhibitions, primarily in emerging and fast growing Eastern Europeanmarkets. Key figures: - 150+ events in 16 countries - key sectors: construction; oil & gas, travel; food; motor &transport; textiles & fashion; IT & Telecoms - key geographic areas of operation: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan,Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, South Africa, UK - 2005 turnover £78.5m and headline profit before tax of £26.0m This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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