Informa 1H Pretax Profit Doubles; Sees FY In Line With Views

27th Jul 2010 07:29

By Tommy Stubbington Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. publishing and conference company Informa PLC (INF.LN) Tuesday said it more than doubled first-half pretax profit despite a slight drop in revenue, and said it is on track to deliver full year results in line with it expectations. Pretax profit was GBP66.4 million for the half year ended June 30, up from GBP32.1 million a year earlier, while revenue fell 2% to GBP624.0 million. In the company's events and training business, which accounts for 48.7% of group revenue, adjusted operating profit grow 11.4%, driven by an increase in delegate numbers across its conference portfolio. In the publishing division, which provides the remainder of group revenue, academic information had a strong first half with high subscription renewal rates, while professional and commercial information was held back slightly by subscriptions in the financial sector. The firm said it anticipates growth in the second half of 2010 driven by continued improvement across events and training and stabilization of subscription revenue. Informa, which publishes maritime newspaper Lloyd's List and Routledge academic books, and owns market research firm Datamonitor, raised its interim dividend to 4.5 pence, from 3.6 pence the previous year. Shares closed Monday at 387.6 pence, valuing the company at GBP2.33 billion. -By Tommy Stubbington, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9268; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 27, 2010 02:29 ET (06:29 GMT)