HYVE.L Regulatory News (HYVE)

1 Oct 2007 07:01

ITE Group PLC01 October 2007 1 October 2007 ITE Group plc Pre-close trading update for the year ended 30 September 2007 ITE Group plc, the international exhibitions group specialising in emerging anddeveloping markets, has today issued the following update for the year ended 30September 2007, prior to entering its close period and ahead of its preliminaryresults announcement on 4 December 2007. Good demand for exhibitions remains in evidence throughout our principal Russianand CIS geographies and the Group's strong sales performance reported in May hascontinued through the events taking place in the second half of the year. Likefor like revenue growth for the full year is expected to be circa 14%, and as aresult profits for the year ending 30 September 2007 are expected to be slightlyahead of current market expectations. Since the interim announcement in May, the results of ITE's main events to havetaken place include: • In May Astana Build (Kazakhstan) and the Oil and Gas exhibition & conference in Uzbekistan both showed good growth over last year's events. In Astana the construction event grew 10% from 3,800m2 to 4,200m2. The Oil and Gas exhibition in Tashkent grew both its exhibition space sales and conference revenues by circa 20%. • The biennial Moscow International Oil & Gas Exhibition took place in June, and able to use the new pavilion in Expocentr, performed exceptionally well in delivering sales of 22,500m2 - over 40% up on the 2005 equivalent event (2005, 15,600m2). The partnering Russian Petroleum Congress benefited from the activity and also delivered its best ever financial result. • The Caspian Oil and Gas exhibition and conference, which is currently restricted by the venue facilities in Azerbaijan, was similar in size to last year's event. • Moda Autumn and Moda Footwear took place in August against a cautious UK retail environment and performed well to report increased space sales of 16,400m2 (2006, 16,100m2) • In September the re-launched Moscow International Motor Show consolidated its position at the Crocus venue and was the same size as the 2006 event. The new pavilion at the Crocus venue will be available for next year's event and will facilitate the future expansion of this event. • World Food Moscow which took place in September, was another beneficiary of the new pavilion opened this year at Expocentr, and in selling 24,500m2 delivered sales growth of 10% over last year's event. • Kazbuild, our principal construction event in the Kazakhstan market, grew by over 20% to 13,400 m2 (2006, 10,800 m2). The recently refurbished Pavilion 10B, which was part funded by ITE, was completed ahead of schedule and supported the growth of this year's event. • Baltic Building Week in St Petersburg produced a good financial performance with improved yields and unchanged space sales over last year. Bill Dye, Chief Executive Officer of ITE, said: "In my first trading update for ITE I am pleased to be able to confirm thatITE's business is performing as robustly as was outlined to shareholders at theinterim announcement in May. In the second half of the year we have experiencedcontinued growth in demand for exhibitions across our core markets in Russia andCentral Asia. In particular the exceptional performance of the Moscow Oil & Gasexhibition in June endorses its reputation as a world class exhibition, andfurther demonstrates ITE's international strength in this sector. Our portfolioof exhibitions in Central Asia continues to deliver high growth where the venuefacilities support the expansion of our events. With like for like revenuegrowth expected to be circa 14% we expect to report another good financialperformance." ENDS Enquiries: Bill Dye Tel: 0207 596 5000Chief Executive, ITE Group plc Charlie Palmer/Tim Spratt:Financial Dynamics Tel: 020 7831 3113 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange