HYVE.L Regulatory News (HYVE)

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 which forms part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR").

27 June 2022

Hyve Group plc

("Hyve" or the "Group")

Trading update

Faster than anticipated recovery continues

Improved net debt position

Hyve Group plc, the next-generation global events business, today announces a trading update for the period from 1 April to 24 June 2022.

Pace of in-person event recovery considerably ahead of anticipated levels

The first half of our 2022 financial year saw faster than anticipated revenue recovery. This momentum continued into Q3, which is now the second busiest quarter for the Group's streamlined portfolio structure, following the sale of the Russian business in May. Total revenue for the period demonstrated a full recovery on a pro-forma basis, underpinned by the continued strong customer demand for market-leading in-person events, despite on-going macro challenges.

During the period the Group ran all nine scheduled in-person events, with the exception of three events in Ukraine, taking place across four continents. This included some of our major brands, such as Mining Indaba, CWIEME Berlin and Breakbulk Europe, which all delivered increases in like-for-like customer spend compared with their previous editions. In addition, following the highly successful US edition of Shoptalk in March, which became Hyve's largest event by revenue in history, the Group launched the geo-cloned Europe edition - Shoptalk Europe - in June. This inaugural event almost doubled expectations, attracting over 3,000 attendees from more than 50 countries.

Continued omnichannel evolution

Five tech-enabled meeting programmes also took place during the quarter, including the inaugural Shoptalk Europe, facilitating over 4,700 one-on-one, pre-matched, algorithmically scheduled meetings.

CWIEME Berlin also trialled 'Meet the Engineer' and, based on this successful pilot, a full facilitated meetings programme will be rolled out in 2023. 

In addition, a number of 121 Mining Investment programmes took place during the quarter, including the first co-located event with Mining Indaba since Hyve's acquisition of 121 Group in November. This delivered over 1,800 meetings making it the largest programme delivered by 121 Group.

This brings the total number of events for the year to date to 30, which includes 13 tech-enabled programmes.

Strong forward bookings momentum

Forward bookings1 for the full year are currently £122.3m, which excludes £6.5m of bookings for the August Chinese events. This also excludes revenue for events in Ukraine which continue to be postponed until further notice. This performance has been underpinned by the ongoing demand for market-leading in-person events, enhanced by the continued execution of the Group's omnichannel strategy, and despite COVID-19 disruption in some geographies and challenges across the wider geopolitical environment.

While there continues to be uncertainty around running events in China in the near term, the Group notes the beginning of a relaxation of COVID-19-related restrictions in certain regions, however this situation remains fluid.

Bookings for Groceryshop, due to be held in September, are tracking in line with expectations and are expected to exceed the pre-COVID-19 edition.

Disposal

The Group continues to streamline its portfolio focusing on events which are, or have the potential to be, market-leading. In June the Group completed the disposal of its loss-making 50% interest in Debindo Unggul Buana Makmur in Indonesia, for a total consideration of £0.5m.

This five-year drive for quality has fundamentally changed the makeup of the Group's in-person event portfolio, which has gone from 269 events, with a c. 90% weighting towards emerging markets, to a de-risked portfolio of 50 market-leading events, 88% of which are rooted in advanced economies.

Improved net debt position

Net debt at 31 May 2022 reduced to approximately £53m (31 March 2022: £64m) which includes the receipt of insurance proceeds of £8.7m in May and bookings for upcoming events. The Group maintains its strong liquidity position, with net debt tracking at the lower end of previously stated year end net debt guidance of £70m-£90m. The refinancing process is in progress, with the Group in discussions with existing and prospective lenders.

Mark Shashoua, CEO of Hyve Group plc said:

"I am pleased to report another quarter of strong trading. The trends we saw emerge post-pandemic continue to hold true - in particular, our customers continue to spend more with us than before, demonstrating the huge value which in-person events offer and proving that our strategy of focusing on only market-leading events is paying off.

"The launch of Shoptalk Europe delivered exceptional results and was a prime example of how best to capitalise on organic growth and demand. With our in-person event portfolio now streamlined, our strategy going forward is to shift our focus from geographies to sectors, and Shoptalk Europe perfectly demonstrates the opportunities presented by industries which are experiencing growth themselves, as well as tech-led disruption.

"Our success this quarter has been strengthened by the continued delivery of our omnichannel strategy, which introduces additional opportunities for our customers to connect, network and trade.

"Once again, I would like to thank our global teams who, despite the significant disruption they have faced in recent years, remain committed to constantly innovating and delivering exceptional quality for our customers."

The person responsible for arranging for the release of this announcement on behalf of Hyve Group plc is Jared Cranney, Company Secretary.

[1] Forward bookings are contracted revenues for the financial year. This includes revenues on events that have taken place in the first half

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About Hyve Group plc

Hyve Group plc is a next-generation global events business whose purpose is to bring together and connect entire sector ecosystems from all corners of the globe. We meet our customer needs to learn, network and trade via both market-leading in-person and online events. Hyve Group plc is all about globally consistent best practice and unrivalled quality. 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. Hyve's market-leading portfolio of global brands includes: Shoptalk, Spring Fair, Bett, Mining Indaba and the recently acquired Fintech Meetup, which is defining the future of events for the fintech ecosystem and uses state-of-the-art technology to power its world renowned meetings programme.

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