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* Company guides to sharp fall in exhibitions revenue
* Shares down 0.7% in morning trade
* YTD revenue for three other units up
(Adds details, share performance)
Oct 22 (Reuters) - European information company Relx
said on Thursday revenue in its exhibitions business could fall
as much as 210 million pounds short of costs this year, as it
continues to suffer from coronavirus-linked halts in major
events.
FTSE 100-listed Relx, which lost 117 million pounds through
the exhibitions division in the first half, also reported
underlying growth of 1-3% so far this year in the other
businesses which make up the bulk of its revenues.
It expected modest growth in its legal and scientific,
technical and medical operations while risk and business
analytics were currently running at around 3% growth, roughly
half the pace seen in previous years.
Shares in the company, down nearly 14% this year, dipped
around 0.7% in morning trading, roughly in line with the broader
stock market in London.
Relx is the world's second biggest exhibitions organiser
and, like rival Informa, has been hammered this year by
the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting travel curbs and other
restrictions.
The company forecast annual revenue from the unit would be
330-360 million pounds, down from 1.27 billion pounds in 2019,
and compared to costs estimated at 530-540 million pounds.
In comparison, it had booked 7.87 billion pounds in revenue
in fiscal 2019, a 4% increase from the preceding year, with
exhibitions making up just 16% of the total.
In its trading update, the company said event activity had
reopened in a limited number of countries.
"Exhibitions are now running in China, Japan and a few other
countries. Although revenue from most events is lower than from
prior editions, satisfaction measures for both exhibitors and
visitors are generally higher," Relx said.
The company, formerly known as Reed Elsevier, previously
hosted more than 500 exhibitions in about 30 countries,
attracting over 7 million people each year.
($1 = 0.7606 pounds)
(Reporting by Patrick Graham and Muvija M in Bengaluru; Editing
by Rashmi Aich and Bernadette Baum)
