HYVE.L Regulatory News (HYVE)

3 October 2019

Hyve Group plc

("Hyve" or the "Group")

Pre-close trading update

Hyve Group plc, formerly ITE Group plc, is today publishing a trading update for the year ended 30 September 2019, prior to entering its close period and ahead of its preliminary results announcement on 3 December 2019.

Trading update

The Transformation and Growth programme ("TAG") initiatives have been rolled out across the Group's key market-leading events and we continue to see the benefits of the scalable platform that has been put in place. These benefits are particularly visible in our trading figures, with the majority of the Group's markets delivering like-for-like revenue growth for the second consecutive year.

Revenues for FY19 are expected to be circa £219m (2018: £176m). The increase reflects the full year impact of the recent acquisitions and strong underlying trading growth, particularly from our top 10 events, which collectively delivered double-digit revenue growth for the second year in a row. On a like-for-like basis, revenues are expected to be 7% ahead of the comparative period.

Financial position

Net debt as at 30 September 2019 was circa £112m (30 September 2018: £83m) after continued TAG investment in the year, the Mining Indaba acquisition and the Ascential Events integration costs.

Outlook

After over two years of significant transformation, we have created a stronger and more diversified portfolio, with a focus on market-leading events. This makes us more resilient going into FY20 as we face headwinds in many of our markets, including sanctions in Russia, Brexit, USA/China trade wars and foreign exchange rate uncertainty. As at 27 September 2019, the Group had booked circa £118m of revenue for FY20 (30 September 2018: £113m). On a like-for-like basis, these revenues are 4% ahead of this time last year.

The Group has transformed significantly since the launch of TAG in May 2017, culminating in the rebrand and name change announced in September. Our new name is a better reflection of the business that we have become and captures our ambitions for our future. As Hyve, we are on a mission to deliver unmissable events. We believe our operating model gives us a distinctive competitive edge as customer needs evolve and we aspire to set the standard for our industry. The Board is confident in Hyve's future growth prospects.

Notes to Editors

1. Like-for-like results are stated on a constant currency basis, after excluding events which took place in the current period but did not take place under our ownership in the comparative period and after excluding events which took place in the comparative period but did not take place under our ownership in the current period. This excludes:

- Biennial events;

- Timing differences (i.e. events that ran in only one of the current or comparative periods, due to changes in the event dates);

- Launches;

- Cancelled or disposed of events that did not take place under our ownership in the current year;

- Acquired events in the current period; and

- Acquired events in the comparative period that didn't take place under our ownership in the comparative period (i.e. they took place pre-acquisition).

2. Top 10 events - these are defined as the top 10 events by revenue excluding the acquisition of Ascential Events Limited and Mining Indaba.

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About Hyve Group plc

Hyve Group plc is a next generation global events business whose purpose is to create unmissable events, where customers from all corners of the globe share extraordinary moments and shape industry innovation. Hyve Group plc was announced as the new brand name of ITE Group plc in September 2019, following its significant transformation under the Transformation and Growth (TAG) programme. Our vision is to create the world's leading portfolio of content-driven, must-attend events delivering an outstanding experience and ROI for our customers.

Where business is personal, where meetings move markets and where today's leaders inspire tomorrow's.