ITE Group, organiser of events including MODA, Scoop, Jacket Required and Bubble London, has reported revenue of £152.6m, up five per cent on a like-for-like basis for the first time in four years.
The organiser also reported a headline profit before tax of £31.6m, ‘impacted by timing of events and planned investment of the TAG (Transformation & Growth) programme’.
Mark Shashoua, CEO of ITE Group, said: “I am pleased to report that ITE has posted like-for-like revenue growth of five per cent after three years of difficult trading. On our top ten events, we have driven like-for-like top line growth of 15 per cent. This growth in part reflects the successful rollout of the first phase of our TAG initiatives and our decision to focus on core events that have the greatest capacity for growth.”
The Group’s three-year Transformation and Growth programme, announced in May 2017, aims to create a scalable platform and drive organic growth, and is showing ‘signs of success from early initiatives’.
Internationally, the organiser reports that conditions in Moscow have stabilised but that other regions remain demanding.
“Whilst there have been challenging trading conditions in Russia outside of Moscow, Central Asia and in Turkey, we have seen the benefit of improved trading in Moscow,” continued Shashoua”. Our TAG programme is on track; during 2017 we have assembled the right team, structure and processes that we believe will lead to success. Even at this early stage, we are clearly seeing the benefits of our TAG initiatives, through growth in our core events and forward bookings.
Looking to the future, Shashoua was optimistic.
“Our next financial year is underpinned by good visibility with circa,” he concluded. “£98m of forward bookings, up 20 per cent on last year on a like-for-like basis. ITE is well placed to realise its vision of creating the world’s leading portfolio of content-driven, must-attend events that deliver an outstanding experience and ROI for our customers. A fast pace has been set in the last year which we look forward to continuing into 2018 and beyond.”
