Tarsus Share News (TRS)

Business to business (B2B) media group Tarsus , which operates on a two-year exhibitions cycle, saw a like for like revenue increase of 6% in 2010 compared to 2008.The group said 2010 is the down-year in the two-year cycle, as reflected in the decline in adjusted profit before tax to £9.5m from £10.7m the year before. Total revenue slumped to £43.6m from £57.5m in 2009.Net debt fell to £28.6m from £30.7m at the end of 2009."The board is increasingly confident that the improving trends evidenced in the fourth quarter of 2010 will flow into 2011. Encouragingly, forward bookings for 2011 are strong, standing at 63% of anticipated full year revenues compared with 58% for 2010 (as adjusted for biennial events)," said company chairman, Neville Buch.Broker Peel Hunt said the profit before tax and the earnings per share (10.4p, adjusted, down from 13.1p the year before) were both above its forecasts, while the debt level was lower. The broker has left its earnings forecasts unchanged but upped its target price to 155p. Singer Capital Markets is another broker that thinks the current share price could move "a little further ahead", based on the positive news on the Dubai Airshow, where there has been "a dramatic pick-up in bookings as the venue space availability/configuration issue has been dealt with.""At this stage we have a flat assumption for Dubai that now looks to have upside. Equally our confidence in Tarsus maintaining net debt at c£29m also rises," Singer said. "Already completed events are trading well with February Off-Price show revenues up 10% on the prior year and the rebook for August very strong (c75% vs average of c65%). In the rest of the portfolio the Labelexpo Europe event is tracking in-line with a 9% revenue increase and the Medical business is booking at +10%. The company is currently assuming flat for France in 2011 with a modest improvement in early 2012, in-line with our model," the broker added."Our 143p target price is based on the mid-point of a 10-12x target Price/Earnings range, a discount to our 14x starting for point for B2B businesses. As Tarsus de-levers and if trading continues to improve there is a case for a higher rating," the broker reckons.