Informa issue full year results

Informa (LSE: INF.L), an international B2B Events, B2B Digital Services and Academic Markets Group has published full year results for 2023, confirming 30%+ revenue growth and £700m+ of shareholder returns, as well an update to 2024 guidance following a strong start to the year.

Stephen A. Carter, group chief executive, Informa PLC, said: ”Informa’s final results confirm further outperformance in 2023 and continuing momentum and growth in 2024.”

He added: ”Strong growth in IMEA, (India, Middle East & Africa), which is emerging as a material geographic growth engine alongside the Americas, China, ASEAN, and Europe, leads to updated 2024 guidance. We are expanding our platform in B2B Digital Services through the proposed combination with TechTarget. And we are delivering further strong shareholder returns in 2024, including continuing dividend growth and a minimum of £340m of in-year share buybacks.”

Informa reports as follows:

Strong Outperformance in 2023

• 2023 Outperformance1,2: Revenue £3,189.6m (2022: £2,262.4m), Adjusted Operating Profit1
• £853.8m (2022: £496.3m) and Free Cash Flow1 £631.7m (2022: £417.9m), significantly ahead of market guidance set at the start of the year;
• Strong Underlying Growth1,2: Underlying revenue growth of 30.4% and underlying adjusted operating profit growth of 59.1% in 2023, including strong growth in B2B Markets and continuing growth in Academic Markets;
• Increasing Operating Margin1,2: Significant increase in adjusted operating margin to 26.8% (2022: 21.9%), driven by strong underlying revenue growth, operating leverage and efficient cost management; Further margin increase targeted in 2024;
• Growing Earnings per Share1,2: Adjusted diluted earnings per share +86% to 45.3p (2022: 24.4p), reflecting strong growth in adjusted earnings and the benefit of our share buyback programme;
• Improving Statutory Performance2: 2023 statutory revenue +41% to £3,189.6m (2022: £2,262.4m), statutory operating profit +176% to £507.8m (2022: £184.1m), and statutory diluted EPS +218% to 29.9p (2022: 9.4p), reflecting the strong growth in reported revenues and profits;
• Balance Sheet Strength: Strong free cash flow growth and disciplined capital allocation delivers year- end leverage of 1.4x Net Debt/EBITDA, including more than £90m of capital expenditure and c.£550m of share buybacks.

The full update and results can be seen here.