LONDON (Alliance News) - ITE Group PLC said Tuesday its trading in the first half of its financial year was "strong" as the company continued to see the benefits from its transformation programme.
In the six months to March 31, the conference and exhibition organiser reported a 46% rise in pretax profit to GBP1.9 million from GBP1.3 million the year before. The company's adjusted pretax profit jumped 53% to GBP24.5 million.
ITE's revenue increased 43% in the period to GBP107.8 million from GBP75.4 million. The company said it saw like-for-like revenue growth across all of its regions.
"2019 is all about execution and embedding the people and processes that we have put into place since the inception of our Transformation & Growth programme," said Chief Executive Mark Shashoua.
ITE maintained its interim dividend at 0.9 pence per share.
The company's Transformation & Growth strategy has seen it invest in its Core events. ITE's largest recurring events took place in Russia and in the Global Brands division, with both divisions delivering "strong" performances, achieving like-for-like revenue growth of 10% and 23%, respectively.
"This was the second year of TAG improvements in Russia and the second consecutive period of like-for-like double-digit revenue growth from the retained Russian business. In Russia, we have also secured an excellent multi-year contract with Crocus Expo, the newest, purpose-built venue in Moscow, for almost the entire portfolio of Moscow events," the company said.
During the period, ITE organised 61 events, down from 99 events the year before. The company said this reflects a normal biennial pattern. The company's volume sales in the period were up marginally to 354,300 square metres.
Shashoua added: "The outlook for the remainder of the year is strong, owing to our continued focus on forward bookings. Contracted revenues already stand at 94% of full year consensus and are 6% ahead of this time last year on a like-for-like basis. We have also contracted GBP58 million of revenues for financial 2020, representing a like-for-like increase of 11% giving us good visibility into next year.
"We continue to trade in line with board expectations for financial 2019 and looking further ahead, we expect to see the full benefits of the investments we have made into our acquired events from financial 2020 onwards, and we have a much-improved portfolio of events that is well positioned to deliver further sustainable growth in the years to come."
Shares in ITE were up 2.3% Tuesday at 74.70 pence each.