Tarsus Regulatory News (TRS)

12 January 2016

Tarsus Group plc

Year-end trading update

Overview

Tarsus Group plc (LSE: TRS, "the Group", "Tarsus"), the international business-to-business media group, enjoyed a strong finish to the year achieving record revenues and profits. Group like-for-like revenue growth, at constant exchange rates, increased by approximately 10%. The Board anticipates that results for the year ended 31 December 2015 will be in line with its expectations. The outlook for 2016 is positive.

Trading

The Group held a number of its key events since the issue of its Trading Update on 26 October 2015. The Group's largest event, the Dubai Airshow, continued its record of strong revenue growth and achieved buyer growth of 9%. The Flower Show (Turkey - landscaping equipment and services) and Labelexpo Asia, both registered good performances.

Our AMB JV, formed during 2015, held two events in Myanmar. Myanfood/Hotel (November) and Myanbuild/Myanenergy (December) both performed well and in line with the Board's acquisition case.

In the US, the World Anti-Aging Congress (Medical) in Las Vegas saw trading in line with management expectations with growth in both revenue and buyers.

Strategy

We continue to concentrate on the execution of our "Quickening the Pace" strategy, which is focused on accelerating the financial returns to shareholders through providing expanded opportunities for our customers in growth markets. Delivery is focused on three areas:

· Increasing exhibitor numbers and buyer attendance, thereby increasing the returns on existing assets

· Geographical replication of major brands into fast growing markets

· Small bolt on acquisitions in selected geographies

Strategic achievements in 2015 were:

- Visitor growth across the portfolio was 9% - well ahead of the Group's KPI of 5%. 

- 15 brand replications including taking GESS (Education Services) into Mexico and Indonesia and the addition of three events in the US to the Cardiometabolic Health Congress series.

- The acquisition of 50% of AMB which substantially widened the Group's geographic coverage in South-East Asia by adding Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia and the Philippines to the Group's Indonesian base.

- In Indonesia our IIICE event (infrastructure) is benefiting from our investment in marketing thus driving strong buyer attendance. We are continuing to invest in this product to address the fast growing Indonesian market.

- The acquisition of PAINWeek in the US completed the footprint of the Group's Medical Division in the four main sectors of the US preventative medicine market - neurology, endocrinology, cardiovascular and oncology.

- The disposal of the Group's French business in line with our overall strategy to concentrate resources on economies offering the best opportunity for growth.

We have continued our work to reposition the Medical Division to address the larger mainstream medical market. We have also expanded and diversified the revenue base to cover all four pillars of the preventative medicine market. We are encouraged by the growth of our larger medical events and our online educational revenues.

Outlook

Forward bookings for the Group's major events in 2016 are encouraging and, across the portfolio, are tracking 10%+ ahead on a like-for-like basis. Whilst we are early in the year the outlook for 2016 is positive.

Douglas Emslie, Tarsus Group Managing Director, said:

"We have finished the year well with strong performances from our key shows in the fourth quarter and record revenue and profits for the year. Our flagship biennial events, the Dubai Airshow and Labelexpo Europe both achieved record rebooks for their 2017 editions.

"In line with our Quickening the Pace strategy we have achieved industry leading organic growth through our focus on delivering larger numbers of buyers to our exhibitors. Our accelerated programme of brand replications will continue in 2016 progressively adding to our growth. This strong performance allows us to continue our progressive dividend strategy.

"Against our strategic achievements in 2015 and forward bookings for 2016 we remain confident of delivering another year of good performance and progress."

The Group expects to announce its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015 on 2 March 2016.

The Company will be hosting a presentation to analysts at 11.00am today at the offices of Investec Bank plc at 2 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7QP. No new material information will be made available.

For further information:

Notes to editors

Tarsus Group plc (LSE:TRS) is an international business-to-business media group with interests in exhibitions, publishing and online media. The Group operates globally in key verticals including aviation, medical, labels and packaging, discount clothing (Off-Price), housewares and automotive. Tarsus runs more than 90 events and websites and its flagship brands include the Labelexpo exhibitions in Europe, the Americas and Asia and the Dubai Airshow.

The Group operates across a worldwide network of offices in Dublin, London, Milwaukee, Boca Raton (Florida), Dubai, Shanghai, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul. Tarsus is building on its strong presence in the emerging markets of the Middle East, China, Turkey, South East Asia and Mexico.