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(Alliance News) - Ascential PLC on Monday reported a swing to a half-year loss, due to event cancellations and deferrals brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The business media and exhibitions company said revenue slumped 39% to GBP144.3 million from GBP236.2 million.
Marketing segment revenue slumped 74%, primarily due to the cancellation of the 2020 edition of Cannes Lions. However, revenue from Digital Commerce saw 28% growth to GBP53.6 million, accounting for 80% of current revenues.
Ascential swung to a pretax loss of GBP78.3 million from a GBP30.5 million profit a year ago, with an operating loss GBP68.1 million versus a profit of GBP36.0 million.
Looking ahead, the London-based company said: "Clearly, the impact on our business in 2020 from COVID-19 has been significant. While we do not expect an immediate recovery in underlying trading conditions it is also apparent that a number of our brands remain well positioned, arguably more so than six months ago, to benefit from the accelerated shift towards e-commerce that we have witnessed, particularly clearly, in the past period."
Ascential also announced the appointment of Charles Song, founder, chair & chief executive of Chinese supply chain financing platform Linklogis as non-executive director. Song will join the board of the company effective October 1.
Ascential shares were down 4.8% at 283.80 pence each in London on Monday morning.
By Neetika Kurup; neetikakurup@alliancenews.com
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