Exhibitions group Tarsus is on track to generate half of sales from emerging markets by 2013. However, this repositioning has resulted in a series of one-off costs, including a £8.4m impairment charge on the carrying value of the group's French business, which dampened the reported numbers.
Adjusted for these and underlying pre-tax profits actually stormed ahead from £9.5m to £16.8m buoyed by Tarsus' two largest events - the Dubai AirShow and LabelExpo Europe - which occur in odd years. But even on a like-for-like basis, turnover still grew 8 per cent year-on-year.
As planned, the emerging markets - Middle East, China and Turkey - have been spearheading growth with adjusted profits of £7.2m last year way above the £5.5m reported in 2009 when the biennial Dubai Airshow event was last hosted. Moreover, the US business has started to recover and on a biennial basis revenues and profits were both up 38 per cent. However, even with the benefit of LabelExpo Europe which has its best results in over 30 years, European profits were down £1.1m on the £6.2m reported in 2009 reflecting the tough trading in the samller exhibitions in France.
Peel Hunt expects 2012 pre-tax profits of £10.5m and EPS of 9.6p (2011: £16.5m/16.4p), rising to £19.6m and 17.8p, respectively, in 2013.
| TARSUS (TRS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 138p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 119.4m | |
| TOUCH: | 137-142p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 168p | LOW:119.5p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 4.6% | PE RATIO: | 458 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 48p | NET DEBT: | 32% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 46.0 | 12.00 | 11.90 | 5.00 |
| 2008 | 42.5 | 5.68 | 5.70 | 6.00 |
| 2009 | 57.5 | 6.80 | 6.30 | 6.00 |
| 2010 | 43.6 | 5.31 | 5.40 | 6.00 |
| 2011 | 61.7 | 2.97 | 0.30 | 6.30 |
| % change | +41 | -44 | -94 | +5 |
Ex-div:30 May Payment:12 Jul *Includes intangible assets of £86.2m or 99p per share | ||||
