ITE Group results affected by Russian and Ukrainian trading conditions

ITE Group, an exhibitions and conferences organiser, said currency headwinds and difficult trading conditions in Russia and Ukraine affected their revenues for the full year.Revenues were down at £174m from £192.3m a year earlier, dragging profits before tax from £43.9m to £41.5m.Earnings per share declined from 14.2p to 13.8p, while cash and equivalents dropped to £28.1m from £44.0m.However, an increase in underlying growth prompted the group to increase its full year dividend to 7.4p, a 6% increase from last year. "The political crisis in Ukraine and the consequent sanctions imposed on Russia have increasingly changed the economic and trading environment in those countries over the second half of the year," explained chairman Marco Sodi.Revenues in the Russian market were 15% lower than last year, due to the absence of the Moscow International Oil & Gas exhibition and a flat trading market.ITE also said it suffered "heavily" from the political turmoil and civil war in Ukraine, with a 46% decline in volume and revenues.Furthermore, the company said the stronger sterling affected the financial results for the year and both issues will continue to affect next year's outlook.Chief executive Russell Taylor said: "ITE remains sensitive to the economic climate in Russia, but has increasingly good growth prospects in its other markets."It continues to generate good cash flow and with a strong balance sheet is well positioned both to benefit from recovery in its core markets and to continue with its strategy of diversifying its business into new markets."Peel Hunt analysts said: "While the core territories in which ITE operates are for the moment impacted by political and currency risk, nonetheless ITE as event organisers remains a first-rate company."Brokers at Numis gave a 'buy' recommendation and a 293p target price as they said the results were ahead of their estimates.Shares were down 2.25% to 149.8p at 10:43 on Tuesday.