LONDON (Alliance News) - Trade conferences company ITE Group PLC on Tuesday said it swung to a loss in the year to the end of September due to impairment charges it booked amid tough end markets.
ITE said it made a pretax loss of GBP4.1 million in the year to September 30, compared to a GBP31.5 million profit a year before. Headline pretax profit, stripping out any one-offs, was also lower, down to GBP36.5 million from GBP47.2 million.
Revenue for the group dipped to GBP134.4 million from GBP135.8 million, as it suffered from issues with a number of its key markets, particularly in Russia, Turkey and in central Asia.
The group has been attempting to diversify its revenue streams geographically away from the more challenging regions and it has now kicked off a full strategic review of the business, which will be presented at its interim results in May 2017.
Mark Shashoua, who became ITE's chief executive on September 1, said the group has faced challenging end markets due to the lower oil price, weakness in local economies and geo-political events. He said prospects appear to be improving in Russia, but Turkey and central Asia remain challenging.
The company declared a total dividend for the year of 4.50 pence per share, reflecting its decision to rebase its dividend amid the tough trading conditions. The year before, it paid out 7.40p.
ITE shares were down 4.2% to 144.37p on Tuesday morning.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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