(Alliance News) - Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC said Thursday its trading in the first quarter has been "very encouraging".
Shares in the midcap financial publishing and event organisation firm were down 2.6% at 941.00 pence each in London on Wednesday mid-morning.
In the three months to December 31, Euromoney recorded revenue of GBP78.7 million, down from GBP99.2 million a year before.
"Given we do not have visibility on when physical events will return, our outlook is unchanged and in line with the board's expectations," Euromoney added.
Group events revenue in the quarter were just 30% of a year before at GBP8.6 million.
"The impact from not holding physical events was mitigated by running successful virtual events, both one-off and those previously held as physical events. Highlights included ABS East, Capacity events for both Europe and Asia and TowerXchange Asia, which all had strong customer and sponsorship participation," the company said.
Pricing & DMI subscription revenue grew 14% year on year, which was boosted by acquisitions and strong underlying growth of 6%, Euromoney said. The underlying performance benefited from growth in People Intelligence and NextGen, following the investment in those businesses.
Asset Management revenue declined 12%.
"There are two different trends in this segment. Good momentum continues within Investment Research where the Book of Business year-on-year rate of decline improved again during the quarter. We remain on track to meet our announced target to return the Investment Research non-vote subscription Book of Business to growth. There is a drag from Institutional Investor, an events-based subscription business, where revenues declined 19% without physical events," Euromoney said.
The company said its financial position and underlying cash generation remain "strong", with net cash at the end of December of GBP20.3 million.
Euromoney's interim results for the six months ending March 31, 2021 will be published on May 20.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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