By Raechel Thankam Job
(Reuters) -British events and academic publishing group Informa raised full-year underlying revenue growth forecast on Wednesday, betting on strong demand for live trade shows and business events, sending its shares up nearly 7%.
Trade shows have become more appealing to businesses seeking access to markets, customers and competitors as they navigate international geopolitical tensions, Informa CEO Stephen Carter told Reuters, after the group’s profit and revenue each grew more than 20% during the first half of 2025.
“(Events) have become more valuable rather than less valuable, because it’s a route to market access, it’s a route to customer access, it’s a route to competitor access as well,” Carter said.
The company expects to post annual underlying revenue growth of around 6%, compared with its previous forecast of a 5% rise.
Its shares were up about 6% at 875.4p, as of 0919 GMT, and were the top performer on the FTSE 100 index.
Informa, however, expects revenue from its academic markets division, Taylor & Francis, to be lower in 2025, after $75 million in one-off data licensing agreements boosted sales in 2024.
It also expects annual revenue from its newly formed TechTarget division, which provides marketing services to enterprises, to be broadly flat amid subdued market conditions.
TechTarget’s customers are currently redirecting budget from marketing to AI development, which is temporarily dampening demand for Informa’s services, Carter said.
“If we can have a successful foundation year in 2025, we’ll see (TechTarget) business get back into proper growth in 2026 and 2027.”
Informa reported an adjusted operating profit of 578 million pounds ($782.44 million) for the six months ended June, compared with 466.9 million pounds a year ago.
It also extended its share buyback with 150 million pounds planned for the second half of the year.
($1 = 0.7387 pounds)
(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
