Tarsus Regulatory News (TRS)

14 Sep 2009 07:00



14 September 2009

Tarsus Group plc

Corporate Update

Tarsus Group plc ('Tarsus' or 'the Group' or 'the Company'), the international business-to-business media group, is pleased to announce the following corporate update for the period since the announcement of its record interim results on 29th July 2009..

France

The Group has disposed of its 50% shareholding in MD Management SAS to its joint venture partner, Reed Exhibitions France, for a net cash consideration of £ 0.4 million. 

This transaction has resulted in a small book profit and continues the strategy of rationalising the Group's portfolio to focus on larger events, with established brands, which tend to be more resilient throughout the economic cycle.

China

Tarsus has entered into an agreement with its joint venture partner Hubei Hope to invest together a further RMB 10 million (approximately £ 0.9 million) of cash into their joint venture, Tarsus Hope.

The monies will be used to fund acquisitions and new launches in the joint venture's core exhibition sectors of medical equipment and industrial equipment in Central China. The investment is conditional on Chinese regulatory approval, but marks a further step in the development of the Group's portfolio of events in one of the fastest growing exhibition markets in the world.

Trading

The Group's second half exhibitions have begun well, with the Off-Price Show in Las Vegas in August and the Medical event in San Jose in September both now currently trading slightly ahead of management's previous expectations.

Importantly, revenues for the two largest exhibitions in Tarsus' portfolio, Labelexpo Europe in September and the Dubai Airshow in November, continue to remain comfortably ahead of the comparable events in 2007. 

Douglas Emslie, Group Managing Director, said:

"We continue to execute against our strategy of increasing our business in the faster growing emerging markets while actively managing our portfolio in our mature markets.

 Trading for the Group for the full year continues to be in line with the Board's expectations and we anticipate a very satisfactory outcome for 2009."

For further information please contact:

Tarsus Group plc

Douglas Emslie, Group Managing Director 020 8846 2700

Ashley Milton, Group Finance Director 020 8846 2700

Media

Matthew Moth, Madano Partnership 020 7593 4000

Investor Relations

Neville Harris, IR Focus 020 7593 4015

Stephen Scott, Jeremy Wiseman, Scott Harris 020 7653 0030