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Informa PLC on Tuesday reaffirmed its full-year guidance after reporting strong growth in the first half of 2022.
The company also confirmed the divestment of ‘non-core’ fund flow business EPFR for $139 million. ‘Given these proceeds, our strengthening results and the resilience of our core B2B Markets and Academic Markets businesses, we will resume ordinary dividends, whilst supporting our increased share buyback programme,’ said Chief Executive Stephen Carter.
Ordinary dividends will resume alongside its interim results at 3.0 pence per share.
Shares in Informa were up 3.5% at 556.23p in London early Tuesday, placing the stock amongst the top performers in the FTSE 100 index in morning trade.
For the first half of 2022, underlying revenue growth is expected to be in excess of 40% and underlying adjusted operating profit is expected to more than double.
This should produce half-year revenue of over £1.05 billion and adjusted operating profit of over £220 million, compared to revenue of £688.9 million in the first half of 2021 and adjusted operating profit of £69.2 million.
‘Trading through the first half of 2022 has been robust across Academic Markets, B2B Markets and Informa Intelligence,’ it said.
The London-based publisher and events organiser still expects revenue between £2.15 billion to £2.25 billion for 2022, with adjusted operating profit between £470 million to £490 million.
At best, this would represent revenue growth of 25% from £1.80 billion in 2021 and adjusted operating profit growth of 26% from £388.4 million.
‘We continue to closely monitor macro trends (inflation, energy prices, cost of living) and geo-political developments, however, forward visibility on subscriptions in Taylor & Francis remain strong, as do forward bookings for Live and On-Demand Events and forward commitments for specialist B2B Digital Services,’ the company said.
Guidance does not include any contribution from Industry Dive, which Informa announced it has acquired for up to $525 million. The initial cash consideration is $389 million.
‘Industry Dive brings a scalable, single proprietary technology platform, which will enable us to expand our digital services capabilities and deliver content led services to our B2B audiences,’ Informa said.
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