LONDON (Alliance News) - Events company ITE Group PLC on Monday appointed a new chief executive as it reported higher interim pretax profit but a reduced dividend.
ITE said Mark Shashoua will become its new chief executive, taking over from Russell Taylor when he stands down on September 1. Taylor has been chief executive of ITE since 2008, having moved up to the role from finance director previously.
Shashoua is the chief executive of i2i Events Ltd, a business-to-business events and trade exhibitions company owned by Ascential PLC, the media firm which floated in London in February.
The change at the helm comes as ITE said pretax profit for the six months to the end of March grew 36% year-on-year to GBP10.6 million from GBP7.8 million a year earlier, in line with ITE's expectations and benefiting from significantly lower one-off charges. Excluding those one-offs, "headline" pretax profit rose to GBP19.0 million from GBP17.5 million.
Revenue grew 13% to GBP63.6 million from GBP56.1 million, driven by acquisitions ITE has made as it diversified its revenue stream away from the sanction-hit Russian market, to which it had been heavily-exposed.
ITE said it will pay a 1.5 pence interim dividend for the half, down from 2.5p a year earlier, as the group sought to restore earnings cover to 2-times.
ITE said it remains confident on the outcome for the year to the end of September, with more than 90% of its forecast revenue for the financial year contracted.
"Looking forward, prospects in Russia are improving, and the economy is expected to show growth in 2017. ITE has a sound financial platform with good operating cash flows and the group is entering the second half of the year with good visibility on current year bookings. Accordingly the board has confidence in the full-year outcome," said CEO Taylor.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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