Euromoney bear case softens

As you might expect of a deal-focused company which counts people and brands as its most important assets, statutory results are often impaired. Indeed, exceptional items and intangible amortisation clocked in at £54.5m in the year to September. Choppy trading in the advertising and events businesses, dented by appetite from asset management and banking customers in particular, meant statutory and adjusted results were only saved by favourable currency movements.

But Euromoney is doubling down on data channels that serve semi-opaque markets, typified by the $125m (£94m) takeover of RISI, a key source of price information for the paper and pulp industry. Such businesses are good sources of sticky, subscription-based cash flow, and carry high values.

This latter feature was demonstrated by a separately announced sale of a minority stake in Dealogic for $135m, more than double an initial 2014 investment and struck at a toppy 26 times trailing earnings multiple. Those disposal proceeds should help reverse the temporary swell in net debt brought on by the share buy-back from DMGT (DMGT).

On average, analysts expect pre-tax profits of £110m and EPS of 80.9p for the September 2018 year-end, up from £104m and 74.9p in FY2017.