LONDON (Alliance News) - Exhibition and conferences company ITE Group PLC Tuesday expressed confidence in its future prospects and it maintained its total dividend, as it reported a fall in pretax profit for its recently ended financial year, hit by market conditions in Russia and the fall in the oil price.
The company noted that whilst it has seen some stabilisation in trading conditions in Russia, a hit from lower oil prices and domestic currency weakness has hampered its forward bookings for the first half of 2016. Group revenue already booked for its current financial year are GBP77 million, which represents around 57% of market expectations for the full year.
For the year to end-September ITE posted a pretax profit of GBP31.5 million, down from GBP41.5 million a year before, as revenue declined to GBP135.8 million from GBP174.8 million. This was in line with guidance the company gave in October, expecting revenue of around GBP136 million.
Revenue was hit by a GBP6.5 million loss from the weakening of the Russian ruble against sterling, and a reduction in its core business led to a further GBP12.5 million shortfall compared to the previous year. Its Russian and Ukrainian businesses were most severely hit as a result of ongoing political instability, and these challenging conditions were further compounded by a sudden fall in oil prices in December 2014.
The company has worked to diversify its business during 2015, in an effort to offset volatility in Russia and the slowdown in some of its key countries caused by the fall in the oil price. Russia now accounts for around 40% of ITE's business, compared to 51% in 2014.
ITE proposed a final dividend of 4.9 pence, taking its total dividend for the year to 7.4 pence, in line with the previous year.
"ITE has delivered a solid performance despite a challenging trading environment in Russia and more recently in the central Asian states due to the weakness of the oil price and domestic currency, which has impacted the group's results. The group's other regions, which now account for over 40% of ITE's business, are trading well," said Chief Executive Officer Russell Taylor in a statement.
Shares in ITE were down 2.7% at 148.62 pence Tuesday morning, shortly after market open.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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