Informa plc (LON:INF), the international B2B Events, B2B Digital Services and Academic Markets Group, has published a trading update to coincide with its Annual General Meeting, confirming continuing strong growth and reiterating full-year guidance.
Stephen A. Carter, Group Chief Executive, Informa, said:“The Informa Group has changed gears and we are now delivering 10%+ growth.”He added: “Our strategy to focus on specialist markets, unique content and internationalisation is delivering double-digit underlying revenue growth, margin expansion and increasing profits and cash flows.”
Highlights
· Strong growth…Five-month Group underlying revenue growth of 10.1%, reflecting strong operational performances across all businesses;
· Increasing visibility…Revenues of c.£1.4bn delivered year to date, with a further c.£1bn of Subscriptions / Exhibitor revenue committed and visible in 2024, and strong Events rebooking into 2025;
· Balance Sheet strength…Operating performance, free cash flow growth and capital allocation discipline reflected in enhanced credit ratings, with Moody’s and S&P Global upgrading to Baa2 and BBB respectively; On track for £720m++ of Free Cash Flow in 2024;
· B2B Markets…Strong demand for high quality, live B2B experiences combined with Informa’s investment in digital platforms and first party data is driving value growth and volume expansion in all major geographic regions; On track for high single digit underlying revenue growth in 2024;
· Academic Markets…Consistent growth in global research output combined with Informa’s investment in author services and Pay-to-Publish platforms is delivering strong subscription renewals and open research acceleration; On track for 5%+ underlying revenue growth in 2024;
· AI acceleration…Continuing deployment of AI technology across the Group delivering product benefits and operating efficiencies, including in research submission, data validation and content summaries. Further exploration of specialist expert agents underway through non-exclusive Partnership and Data Access Agreement with major AI/Large Language Model buyer;
· Creation of US-listed New TechTarget…Proposed combination of Informa Tech’s Digital Businesses (Industry Dive, Omdia, Canalys, NetLine and the Digital Media Brands) with NASDAQ-listed TechTarget on track to complete in Q4 2024, creating a leading B2B Digital Services business by the end of 2024;
· Accelerating shareholder returns…Operating momentum and strong cash conversion continues to support increasing shareholder returns, with 2024 share buyback programme recently expanded 50% to £0.5bn, of which over £0.3bn completed to date;
· Partnership growth and acceleration…Informa’s strength in developing partnerships to accelerate expansion in key regions and markets continues to deliver strong growth in Saudi Arabia (Tahaluf, c.51% shareholding) and China (Sinoexpo, c.70% shareholding), as well as in Retail Banking Intelligence (Curinos, c.56% shareholding) and Beauty (BolognaFiere, c.13.5% shareholding);
· Market guidance reaffirmed…On track to deliver at the upper end of the 2024 guidance range (Excludes any effect of the proposed combination with TechTarget, GBP / USD 1.25):
· Group Underlying Revenue Growth: High single digit
· Group Revenue: £3,450m to £3,500m
· Group Adjusted Operating Profit: £950m to £970m
· Group Adjusted Free Cash Flow: £720m++
