Informa says current year started well; remains confident of FY prospects

LONDON, May 15, 2008 (Thomson Financial via COMTEX) -- INFMF | news | PowerRating | PR Charts -- UK publisher and conference organiser Informa Plc. said its current year has started well, with trading in line with its expectations, and added that it remains confident about its full-year prospects.

In an AGM statement, Informa said its publishing businesses are benefiting from strong renewal rates, including over 95 percent in its academic and scientific division.

The company also said its events businesses continue to benefit from the focus on large-scale events which have had a "strong" start to the year, "particularly through taking winning brands into new geographies".

Further, Informa said its data and research business Datamonitor, acquired in July 2007, has started the year well with a continuing rise in subscriber numbers.

However, the company said its US commercial performance improvement (CPI) businesses, which account for about 4 percent of its profits, has started the year slowly, and consequently, it has implemented plans to reduce its cost base.

As a result, while Informa expects a "relatively weak" first half, it said the CPI's full-year performance is expected to be in line with 2007. TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com kal/rfw

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