Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC Reported underlying revenue and profit growth

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Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (LON:ERM), the global information business providing essential B2B information to global and specialist markets, today announced results for the six months ended 31 March 2019.

	H1 2019		H1 2018		Change	Underlying² Change
Adjusted¹
• Revenue	£184.9	m	£189.1	m	(2%)	1%
• Operating profit margin	25	%	25	%	–	1ppt
• Profit before tax	£46.1	m	£45.6	m	1%	13%
• Diluted earnings per share	34.32	p	33.60	p	2%
Statutory
• Revenue	£184.9	m	£189.1	m	(2%)
• Operating profit	£49.6	m	£122.7	m	(60%)
• Profit before tax	£49.3	m	£121.1	m	(59%)
• Diluted earnings per share	32.9	p	101.8	p	(68%)

Net cash/(debt)	£29.3	m	(£37.0)	m	£66.3 m
Half year dividend per share	10.8	p	10.2	p	6%

Strategic and operational highlights

· Continued progress towards building a 3.0 business model:

o Acquisition of BoardEx (executive profiling business) and The Deal (M&A data business) for $87.3m (£66.8m)

o Sale of Mining Indaba completed in October 2018 for £30.1m

· Strong performance from Fastmarkets within Pricing, Data & Market Intelligence (“PDMI”) segment; structural and cyclical trends within Asset Management are consistent with 2018

· Increasing market recognition of pricing products reflects evolution of the business model

· DMGT transaction completes phased transition to fully independent FTSE 250

Financial highlights

· Growth in underlying revenue and profit (Statutory and adjusted numbers impacted by disposals)

· Underlying revenue up 1%: challenges in event delegate marketing reduced underlying revenue by 1ppt

· Statutory profit before tax down 59% predominantly due to the gain on disposal of Dealogic in December 2017

· Underlying profit before tax up 13%:

o Profit flow through of PDMI subscriptions growth

o Savings in restructured Asset Management

o Lower net interest costs

· Underlying subscription revenue in PDMI up 8%

· Asset Management restructuring complete: 5% underlying profit growth, £7m annualised savings

· Strong underlying cash conversion of 98%

· Strong balance sheet with net cash of £29.3m

· We continue to expect to deliver profit in line with Board’s expectations

Andrew Rashbass, CEO, said:

“The first six months of the year saw a continuation of recent trends and further strategic progress for the Group. The distribution of Euromoney shares previously owned by DMGT affirmed Euromoney’s status as a fully independent FTSE 250 company, with a fully independent Board, higher free float, increased liquidity and better access to capital. We have also continued our strategic focus on embedding our businesses in the workflow of our customers. The acquisition of BoardEx and The Deal supports our transition towards a B2B 3.0 business model.”