RELX Group – Information and analytics company RELX Group turned in a strong first half of 2018 with underlying revenue growth of £1.31 billion, or about $1.4 billion. That showed total revenue growth of about 4%. In addition to revenue growth, RELX also showed an operating profit of £1.149 billion, or about $1.47 billion for the first half of the year, a 6% boost.
Contributing to the growth of RELX Group was Reed Exhibitions, which saw a 5% growth during the first two quarters of 2018. Hervé Sedky, Regional President of The Americas at Reed Exhibitions, said the 5% growth was a contributor to RELX Group’s underlying revenue growth of 4%.
“We launched 17 new events over the past six months, and acquired the Gamer Network portfolio of leading events, websites and video channels which have 50 million monthly users, which is a great complement to our Global ReedPOP portfolio of events,” Sedky told Trade Show Executive.
RELX CEO Erik Engstrom hailed the financial strength his company showed during the first half of 2018. The company’s top priority, he said, remains the “organic development of increasingly sophisticated information-based analytics and decision tools” that provide value to customers.
A key revenue driver for the first six months was the company’s flexing of its M&A muscle. Over the first half of the year RELX completed five acquisitions of content, data analytics and exhibition assets for a total consideration of £694 million, or about $886. million. The company also divested three assets for a total of £26 million, or about $33.2 million.
Additionally, RELX announced an interim dividend increase of 6% each for RELX PLC and RELX NV. Board Chairman Sir Anthony Habgood said this will be the last time the company announces two separate dividends due to a corporate simplification the company announced in February.
Emerald Expositions – San Juan Capistrano, Calif.-based Emerald Expositions posted a 5.8% revenue increase for the second quarter of 2018 compared to the same quarter last year. For the second quarter, the company saw revenues of $78.4 million compared to $74.1 million in Q2 of 2017.
In addition to a revenue increase, Emerald’s data showed a $12 million difference in net income between 2018 and 2017. Last year the company posted a $6.1 million loss during the second quarter, but this year turned it around with a gain of $5.9 million.
Emerald Expositions showed a 1.4% decrease in adjusted EBITDA, , to $29.2 million. That’s compared to $29.6 million for the second quarter of 2017. In addition, the company posted a 45.9% increase in adjusted net income, to $17.8 million, compared to $12.2 million for the same quarter last year.
Emerald’s President and Chief Executive Officer David Loechner said the second quarter growth was led by strength in the company’s trade show portfolio. Loechner singled out the Hospitality Design Expo, Couture and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair as key drivers. He also touted last November’s acquisition of Connecting Point Marketing Group. This quarter Connection Point Marketinghosted two successful events that provided $4.8 million in revenue. Organic revenues for the company’s trade show portfolio increased about 3% over the same quarter in 2017, according to the quarterly report.
Loechner noted that, as expected, there was a decline in one of the company’s large conferences. Emerald also saw “soft results” in some of its publications.
“As we continued to focus on delivering increased value to exhibitors and attendees across our trade show portfolio, we also remained active assessing potential acquisitions through the second quarter and have targets at various stages of evaluation in our robust deal pipeline,” Loechner said.
Informa PLC – The first half of 2018 was a good one for events and publishing company Informa PLC. The company reported underlying revenue growth of 4.3 %, an increase over the same six-month period in 2017, which saw a 3.7 % revenue growth.
Informa also reported an increase of 1.9% in underlying adjusted operating profit and 3.3% growth to £294.4 million ($376 million) despite higher depreciation and currency headwinds.
Group Chief Executive Stephen A. Carter said the company continued to deliver good trading performances, which reflect Informa’s “combination of international scale, increased depth and breadth in attractive industry verticals.” Carter also said the company is on track for another year of positive revenue growth, adjusted operating profit, adjusted earnings, cash flow and dividends.
During the second half of 2018, Informa will implement its accelerated integration plan, which included the company’s merging with UBM to create one of the largest global B2B events and exhibitions organizers.
Charlie McCurdy, President and CEO of Informa’s Global Exhibitions division, was enthusiastic about the first half of 2018.
“On the exhibitions side of the business, we had a strong first six months of the year, with some great performances in each of our major verticals including Health & Nutrition and Beauty & Aesthetics,” McCurdy told TSE. “Going forward, we’re continuing the rollout of data and digital initiatives that complement and support our exhibitions brand, alongside our focus on successfully combining UBM and its events businesses with ours.”
Reach Hervé Sedky at hsedky@reedexpo.com, David Loechner at David.Loechner@emeraldexpo.com and Charlie McCurdy at Charlie.McCurdy@informa.com.
