| EIA | 18 Jun 2009 |
Events performing for PLCs
The EIA has been highlighting the strength of the live event marketing sector that has seen increases in both visitor numbers and quality at many events in the first half of 2009. Following the Chancellor’s speech at Mansion House last night in which he struck a note of cautious optimism that measures taken by the UK and governments around the world were beginning to have an effect, the EIA now highlights recent results from leading PLCs in the live event marketing space.UBM report resilient trading at AGM
United Business Media Ltd in its 7th May 2009 AGM interim management statement reports its businesses are performing in line with expectations despite the volatile trading conditions, with its B2B business delivering a resilient trading performance. The events portfolio is on track to deliver circa 48% of profits in 2009 similar to 2008 with good growth predicted from exhibitors and sponsorship revenues.
ITE - good first half
In its interim results for the six months to 31st March 2009, ITE Group plc, which organises over 180 trade exhibitions and conferences each year in 11 countries and employs around 900 staff in 23 offices worldwide, reported revenue growth of 33% to £43.2M (H1 2008: £32.6M) with operating profit doubling to £12.1M (H1 2008: £6.6M) and PBT of £11.1M (H1 2008: £3.9M). £103.3M in revenue has been booked for the full financial year, which is 11% ahead of the same point in 2008.
Tarsus - exhibitions revenue remains resilient
Tarsus Group plc in its interim management statement for the four months to 30th April 2009 report trading in line with expectations. The Group's revenues are weighted towards the second half of the year, and it reports forward bookings as solid, as income from exhibitions remain resilient. Exhibitions contribute 90% of Tarsus' revenue.
The EIA’s Tom Treverton comments, “While it is true to say some events have been cancelled and others may have seen falling numbers, there are a great many really strong events in the marketplace that are delivering real results for their visitors, exhibitors and, as we can see from the PLCs’ results, both the organisers themselves and their shareholders as well. This is because live event marketing is the only medium that brings pro-active buyers and sellers together, eyeball to eyeball in an environment of business expectation. As spend on traditional marketing channels continues to contract, it is live event marketing that marketers are turning to deliver the ‘engagement’ and ‘brand experience’ that directly influences and subsequently wins business. In spite of challenging trading conditions, the sector has delivered increases in visitor audiences and remains confident that businesses aiming to hit targets will turn to the only five sensory medium that really does deliver buyers. These great results from leading PLCs echo the on-going success of a huge number of smaller players in this most ‘immediate’ of sectors.”
