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(Alliance News) - Informa PLC said on Tuesday it returned to profit last year as live events resumed and predicted 2022 will continue to close the gap on pre-pandemic earnings.
The London-based business publisher and events organiser swung to pretax profit of GBP137.1 million from a loss of GBP1.14 billion in 2020, where many in-person events had been cancelled.
This is less than half of the profit before tax of GBP318.7 million in 2019 before Covid-19 hit.
Revenue grew by 8.3% to GBP1.80 billion in 2021 from GBP1.66 billion in 2020. This was thanks to growth in digital services, the strength of subscriptions, and the progressive return of Live and On-Demand business-to-business events as the pandemic eased, the company said.
Informa expects to see most of its major brand events running by the second quarter, but certain countries in Latin America and Asia will take until 2023 to recover due to Covid restrictions.
Dividends remain suspended until the 2022 interim period, but Informa has launched a second tranche of its share buyback, for up to GBP200 million. A total of 17 million shares already have been bought back and cancelled, it reported.
For 2022, Informa is guiding for revenue within a range of GBP2.15 billion to GBP2.25 billion, which would be around 22% higher than achieved in 2021, but some way off GBP2.89 billion achieved in pre-pandemic 2019. It expects adjusted operating profit between GBP470 million to GBP490 million, which would be up around 24%.
Shares in Informa were trading up 0.8% at 554.60 pence each in London on Monday morning.
Chief Executive Stephen Carter commented: "The robust return of Live and On-Demand Events, combined with consistent and improving growth at Taylor & Francis, and continued expansion in B2B Digital Services, gives us confidence of further growth and acceleration in 2022."
By Elizabeth Winter; elizabethwinter@alliancenews.com
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