International exhibition organiser ITE notched up a fresh 52-week high on these results, despite revealing a difficult trading year which saw a 20 per cent decline in like-for-like volume sales on average, and a much worse performance in some locales - the Central Asian and Eastern/Southern European businesses were down 33 and 35 per cent respectively.
But with the company generating most of its sales in dollars and euros, sterling weakness meant reported figures were up year-on-year. Profits were also flattered by the contribution from the company's one major biennial event, the Moscow International Oil & Gas Exhibition.
With exhibition space conventionally booked well in advance, ITE also said that around £56m of 2010 revenues already booked - that's more than half of analysts' admittedly lowered sales forecasts, with volumes expected to be down another 10 per cent on 2009. But even if ITE is still not yet seeing an uptick in bookings, management said conditions had now stabilised in its core markets and was confident enough to raise the dividend. Meanwhile a healthy cash pile offers the fire-power to perhaps pick up one or two bolt-on acquisitions that are increasingly available at better prices than a couple of years ago.
Broker Altium anticipates full-year pre-tax profits of £32.3m and EPS of 9.9p (from £45.1m and 14.4p in 2009).
| ITE GROUP (ITE) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 131p | MARKET VALUE: | £325m | |
| TOUCH: | 131-132p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 135p | LOW: 44p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.2% | PE RATIO: | 10 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 22p * | NET CASH: | £23.1m | |
| Year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 79.6 | 25.2 | 6.70 | 2.75 |
| 2006 | 82.4 | 24.8 | 6.90 | 3.50 |
| 2007 | 99.1 | 33.7 | 9.10 | 4.50 |
| 2008 | 110 | 34.4 | 9.40 | 5.30 |
| 2009 | 117 | 41.5 | 12.8 | 5.50 |
| % change | +6 | +21 | +36 | +4 |
Ex-div: 6 Jan Payment:15 Feb *Includes intangible assets of £60.6m, or 24p per share | ||||
