One year on from its acquisition of UBM, Informa (INF) says that it’s “performing to plan”, with its 12-month integration programme completed on schedule. The market reacted positively, sending shares in the information services and publishing giant up by more than 5 per cent on the back of its half-year results.
Underlying revenues rose by 3.4 per cent, buoyed by good growth across all five business areas. The largest – Informa markets – enjoyed a 4.4 per cent increase in underlying sales to £753m, helped by its international presence and a focus on sizeable business-to-business brands in specialist markets. Sales for Informa Intelligence – the specialist information division – were up 3.2 per cent to £183m. Renewals here were strong, thanks to a focus on subscriptions.
While adjusted operating profits jumped by 48 per cent on a reported basis to £436m, their statutory equivalent increased 65.5 per cent to £248m, even more impressive given it was tempered by amortisation costs tied to UBM.
Free cash flow leapt from £131m to £306m, and Informa announced a decent dividend hike. Net debt also expanded from £2.7bn to £2.8bn, equivalent to a multiple of 2.7 times cash profits – down from the comparative period’s 3.1 times.
Numis expects adjusted pre-tax profits of £816m and EPS of 50.3p for 2019, up from £650m and 49.2p in 2018.
| INFORMA (INF) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 871p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 10.9bn | |
| TOUCH: | 871-872p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 876p | LOW: 603p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.6% | PE RATIO: | 36 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 471p* | NET DEBT: | 47% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2018 | 0.96 | 119 | 10.3 | 7.06 |
| 2019 | 1.41 | 233 | 14.6 | 7.55 |
| % change | +47 | +96 | +42 | +7 |
| Ex-div: | 8 Aug | |||
| Payment: | 13 Sep | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £10bn, or 803p a share | ||||
