- The exhibition organizer said it would buy back £500m of its shares in 2024.
- He noted that all divisions were performing ahead of or in line with current targets.
Informa is increasing its share buyback program by almost half after strong performance during the first four months of 2024.
The exhibition organizer said it would buy back £500m of its shares this year, 47 per cent more than previously planned, having already bought around £180m so far this year.
It noted that all divisions were performing “ahead of or in line” with full-year targets, supported by “strong” momentum across all major regions, including Asia and North America.
Buyback: Exhibition organizer Informa said it would buy back £500m of its shares in 2024, 47 per cent more than previously planned.
In the Middle East, the group found success with Arab Health and LEAP, an annual technology event in Saudi Arabia, while across the United States, the MRO Americas aviation conference and the manufacturing-themed IME West were popular.
Informa’s academic markets segment, Taylor & Francis, benefited from subscription renewals and higher volumes of open research submissions and publications.
The FTSE 100 firm announced it had agreed a three-year deal with Microsoft worth an initial $10 million plus other recurring payments.
Under the agreement, Informa will allow access to its data to help Microsoft improve its artificial intelligence systems and work with the tech giant to advance automated citation referrals.
Like similar contracts, the company said the agreement protects its intellectual property rights, including limits on verbatim text excerpts.
Thanks to the deal and strong operating performance, the company said its top line, free cash flow and adjusted operating profit were at “the upper end of market guidance.”
For the full year, Informa expects revenue of up to £3.5 billion in the financial year, compared to £3.2 billion in 2023, and adjusted operating profits of £950 million to £970 million pounds sterling.
Informa also revealed that Penny Ladkin-Brand would become the next CEO of Taylor & Francis.
Ladkin-Brand is currently director of finance and strategy at Future, the magazine publisher behind Country Life and FourFourTwo, and president of media consultancy Next 15 Group.
Additionally, Jill Dougan has been appointed Marketing Director at Informa, having previously worked for more than five years in senior roles at British Gas.
Dougan said Informa “has a unique set of specialized brands and proprietary data, and significant value embedded across its intellectual property portfolio, creating numerous growth opportunities in today’s increasingly data-driven and enabled world.” digitally”.
informative actions They rose 2.3 per cent to 850.8p in early afternoon trading on Wednesday, making them one of the biggest risers on the FTSE 100 index.