Euromoney reported a “strong” first half on Thursday, with group revenue rising an underlying 14% year-on-year to £184.6m, as it lifted its expectations for full-year performance.
The FTSE 250 firm said the improvement in revenue reflected growth of 8% in subscriptions, 17% in Fastmarkets, 5% in financial and professional services, 1% in asset management, and a 59% surge in events revenue.
Adjusted profit before tax was 16% firmer at £38.6m, which the board put down to the company’s strong revenue performance, while continuing to invest for future growth.
Euromoney reported success in its implementation of flexible working policy and group-wide property rationalisation, to deliver £5m in annual property savings.
It did, however, take a £19.1m exceptional property charge in the first half.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 8% to 26.6p, while the company described the balance sheet as “strong”, with net cash totalling £12.5m at the period end on 31 March.
On a statutory basis, profit before tax slid 51% year-on-year to £7.6m, and diluted earnings per share were also 51% weaker at 4.2p.
The board proposed a total dividend of 6.1p per share for the period, up 7% on the 5.7p distribution it made a year ago.
Looking ahead, Euromoney said its full-year results for 2022 were now set to be ahead of the board’s previous expectations, supported by strong growth in subscriptions, further growth in events, and efficiency benefits, including £2.5m of property savings.
It added that its ‘3.0’ strategy was expected to deliver high single-to-double digit underlying revenue compound annual growth from the 2022 to 2025 financial years, and a “significant improvement” in adjusted operating profit margins to the mid-to-high 20s by 2025.
“Our strong first half performance provides clear evidence that we are moving at pace to being a fast-growing, high-margin, 3.0, information-services subscription business,” said chief executive officer Andrew Rashbass.
“Fastmarkets and financial and professional services subscriptions grew strongly, driven by increasing demand for our actionable data, analysis and intelligence.
“Within asset management, we have met our target early of stabilising our investment research business.”
Rashbass said demand for in-person events strengthened across the first half, describing bookings for the rest of the year as “encouraging”.
“We have entered the second half with confidence,” he added.
“While we are mindful of the macro and geopolitical landscape, our specialist businesses are performing well and we expect results for the full year to be ahead of the board’s previous expectations.
“Our confidence in our business supports a new medium-term outlook, targeting strong growth and a mid to high-twenties operating margin by 2025.”
At 0933 BST, shares in Euromoney Institutional Investor were up 0.77% at 1,044p.
Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.
