Centaur Media has reported a 16 per cent underlying revenue growth across its exhibition portfolio in its latest half-yearly report.
 
The exhibition division recorded £6m in revenue for the six months to 31 December 2011, up from £5.4 in the corresponding period. Pre-tax earnings were down slightly to £200,000 and were impacted by a small loss on the launch of humanitarian aid community exhibition Aidex.
 
Centaur said core exhibition revenue was up 33 per cent, buoyed by the Employee Benefits, National Home Improvement and regional Homebuilding and Renovating events, which all ran in the first half and delivered 15 per cent revenue growth.
 
Forward bookings for exhibitions are 17 per cent ahead year-on-year, and the outlook is positive for upcoming shows including National Homebuilding, Business Travel, SubCon and Marketing Week Live, Centaur said.
 
The results follow a major restructure of the Centaur group in the first half of the financial year into three key operating divisions: Business publishing, business information and exhibitions. Overall, total revenue for the six months to 31 December 2011 reached £26.6m, with adjusted pre-tax earnings reaching £1.6m.
 
Centaur also pointed out the second half of the year traditionally accounts for the majority of earnings and anticipated trading to be in line with the management’s expectations for the current financial year.
 
“The structural changes we introduced in the first half have enabled Centaur to deliver an encouraging performance in a challenging economic environment,” Centaur CEO Geoff Wilmot said. “We see further growth potential across each of the business publishing, business information and exhibitions divisions and have identified a strong pipeline of potential acquisitions.
 
“Our restructuring programme has led to a re-balancing of revenues in favour of digital and events and we have made good progress in our investments on new products and bolt-on acquisitions.”
 
Among recent acquisitions was the Event and Exhibiting Show, which will now be integrated into Centaur’s Marketing Week Live event in June. Consideration for the show is dependent on its 2012 performance but isn’t expected to exceed £200,000.
 
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