(Pictured: Stephen Carter, chief executive, Informa PLC)
Informa PLC, a London-based multinational events and publishing company, remains resilient against an unstable economic backdrop with continued growth reporting revenues up by 2.8 percent for the year through Oct. 31.
The group is on track to meet targets through progressive portfolio management with revenues generated from selling off industry and infrastructure media brands portfolio, following the sale of life sciences media brands and agribusiness portfolio, as well as portfolio changes in Informa Connect.
The group continues expansion with investment in Founders Forum and the launch of a joint venture with Informa Tech. The company has also issued a new €500m bond, lowering overall cost of debt over five and a half years.
“After 10 months trading in 2019, despite an unpredictable economic/geo-political backdrop, the enlarged Informa Group continues to demonstrate resilience and performance, remaining on track for a sixth consecutive year of growth in underlying revenue, profit, adjusted earnings and cash flow,” says Stephen Carter, chief executive of Informa PLC.
Growth is further attributed to the full integration of the UBM brand into group. November and December are key trading months for Informa accounting for 20 percent of revenues with key subscription renewals for Informa Intelligence, Informa Tech and Taylor & Francis. If revenues are achieved the business looks set to grow by 3.5 percent for 2019.
Sectors showing strong growth include: Health and Nutrition Hospitality, Food & Beverage, Design and Furniture, Fashion, Real Estate and Construction. Other sectors and brands reporting significant growth include Pharma (CPhI Worldwide, Food Ingredients Europe, CPhI India), and Maritime (Marintec, Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show).
Brands servicing specialist markets continue to deliver growth in 2019, increasing from 2.1 percent after six months to 2.8 percent after 10 months, with strong recent performances in both Global Finance (Finovate Fall, SuperReturn Asia) and Life Sciences (BioProcess International, BioPharm America). Marketing (TMRE) and Life Sciences (BioEurope), are likely meet or beat 2.5 percent target for the year.
