Investors cheered strong progress at Informa (INF) - which has reached the halfway point of a four-year, £90m growth programme - by sending its shares up 4 per cent. In the reported period, the information and events giant invested around £25m in data analytics, digital offerings and refocusing its weaker businesses. That helped to drive adjusted operating profit up a tenth to £366m.
Organic sales leapt 11 per cent in Informa's events business as it gained traction in the enormous US market with shows such as World of Concrete. Revenue and profit also rose in the key academic publishing division as a focus on specialist content offset tepid demand for textbooks. Although turnover was down in the business intelligence division, it rose in the fourth quarter as management pruned its portfolio and focused on big customers and renewing subscriptions.
Informa's main weak spot was its knowledge and networking segment, which remains exposed to the torrid energy and resources industries. Although management is shooting for organic growth in the other three divisions this financial year, here the target is to reach flat organic revenues by targeting the finance, life sciences, telecoms, media and technology sectors.
Informa's directors plan to accelerate growth investments to £50m in the 2016 financial year. After these results, Numis expected to increase its FY2016 EPS expectation by around 5 per cent. It was previously forecasting 42.4p.
| INFORMA (INF) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 660.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £4.3bn | |
| TOUCH: | 660-661p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 644p | LOW: 513p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3% | PE RATIO: | 25 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 195p* | NET DEBT: | 71% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1.28 | 89 | 12.5 | 16.8 |
| 2012 | 1.11 | 70 | 15.6 | 18.5 |
| 2013 | 1.13 | 115 | 17.1 | 18.9 |
| 2014 | 1.14 | -31 | -8.6 | 19.3 |
| 2015 | 1.21 | 220 | 26.4 | 20.1 |
| % change | +7 | - | - | +4 |
Ex-div: 28 Apr Payment: 26 May *Includes intangible assets of £2.68bn, or 413p a share | ||||
