Reed’s exhibition revenues up 8% in first half

News this week: London-based media group, Reed Elsevier, reported its interim results for the six months ended 30^th June 2014. The group’s revenues grew by 4% to £2.8 billion (US$4.9 billion), while excluding for biennial exhibition cycling, revenues were up by 3%. Adjusted operating profit in the period was £860 million (US$1.5 billion), a year-on-year increase of 5%.

In the first half of 2014, the exhibitions business generated revenues of £490 million (US$838 million), up 8% year-on-year, including 2% of positive biennial cycling and timing effects. Adjusted operating profit in the six-month period also rose by 8%, amounting to £152 million (US$260 million).

Reed’s management highlighted its operations in the U.S. and Japan as a result of strong demand across its portfolio of events in the U.S. and strong growth recorded in almost all of its major Japanese events. In the first half of the year, Reed Exhibitions launched 20 new events and completed two small acquisitions.

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

Reed’s exhibitions revenue posts moderate growth

News this week: London-based media group, Reed Elsevier, reported its interim results for the six months ended 30^th June 2013. The group’s revenues grew by 2% to £3.03 billion (US$4.6 billion). While excluding biennial exhibition cycling, revenues were up by 3%. Adjusted operating profit in the period was £870 million (US$1.3 billion), a year-on-year increase of 6%.

The exhibitions business recorded a moderate growth of 1% year-on-year, amounting to £485 million (US$738 million). While excluding biennial effect, the exhibitions business grew 7%. Adjusted operating profit in the six-month period was £151 million (US$230 million), flat with last year.

In the first six months of 2013, Reed launched 15 new events, primarily in emerging markets. According to the company, the U.S., Japan, Brazil and other markets grew well during the period, with the exception of Europe which saw modest growth.

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

Reed expects a strong year in 2013

News this week: London-listed media group Reed Elsevier released an interim management statement for the first quarter of 2013. Although no actual figures were reported, overall, Reed’s management expects “2013 to be another year of underlying revenue, profit, and earnings growth”.

Excluding biennial exhibition cycling and timing, revenue growth rates of the company’s exhibitions business were maintained at levels similar to the second half of last year, noting in particular that the U.S., Brazil, Japan and emerging markets performed well in the quarter, while Europe saw modest growth.

Looking ahead, Reed’s management expects growth to be good in the U.S. and Japan, but limited in Europe, while strong in other markets. The company also reduced its revenue growth forecast for exhibitions business to 5%-6% in 2013 due to the cycling out of shows.

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

Reed’s exhibitions revenue up 15% in 2012

News this week: London-listed B2B media company, Reed Elsevier, has released financial results for the year ended 31^st December 2012.

On the company’s exhibition business, Reed reported revenue growth of 15% (7% excluding biennial event cycling) to £854 million (US$1.13 billion) during the year. Profits in same period were £210 million (US$278 million), up 21% over 2011. By geographical markets, Reed reported strong revenue growth in the U.S. and Japan, and double digit growth in emerging markets. The company saw moderate revenue growth in Europe.

According to Reed, 30 new shows were launched in 2012 in addition to forming partnerships and acquisitions in high growth markets. Reed acquired full ownership of Brazilian joint venture Alcantara Machado, as well as forming a new joint venture in Turkey with event organiser Tüyap.

Reed’s forecast for 2013 sees good growth in the U.S. and Japan, limited growth in Europe, and strong growth in other markets. As a biennial cycling out year for 2013, Reed is expecting revenue growth to reduce by 5% - 6%.

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

RBI to sell Australian subsidiary

News this week: Reed Elsevier’s subsidiary, Reed Business Information (RBI), announced an agreement was reached to sell Reed Business Information Australia (RBI Australia) to leading Australasian private equity firm Catalyst Investment Managers Pty Ltd. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to RBI, the decision to sell RBI Australia reflects RBI’s increasing focus on paid content models and data services. RBI Australia is the largest B2B media company in Australia, consisting of publications, websites and online industry portals providing information to professionals in various industries.

Trent Peterson, Managing Director of Catalyst said, “The important role of leading and niche publications with multi-channel operations and deep reach into target audiences is only increasing. RBI Australia’s broad portfolio of titles and formats, spanning a wide range of channels to market and industry verticals, puts the Company in a strong position to deliver outstanding results for its customers.”

The transaction is expected to complete in the next three weeks.

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

Reed Exhibitions revenue up 15%

News this week: Media group, Reed Elsevier, reported its interim results for the first nine months ended 30^th September 2012. The group’s exhibitions organising arm, Reed Exhibitions, reported underlying revenue growth of 15% year-on-year, or 7% excluding biennial cycling. The company’s shows saw double digit growth in emerging markets outside the U.S. and Europe.

Reed Exhibitions reported the launch of 20 new shows in the first nine months of the year with a focus on high growth sectors and geographies including Brazil, Turkey and China. It expects growth rates in Europe will continue to be impacted by the uncertain economic environment.

Erik Engstrom, CEO of Reed Elsevier, commented, “In the first nine months of 2012 we have made good progress in systematically transforming our business, primarily through organic investment, supplemented by selective portfolio developments. The macroeconomic environment and its impact on our customers’ markets remain uncertain, but by focusing on the fundamentals of our business, we expect to continue to improve the quality of our earnings.”

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

Reed Exhibitions’ revenue jump 32% in first half

News this week: London-based media group, Reed Elsevier, reported its interim results for the six months ended 30^th June 2012. The group’s exhibitions organising business, Reed Exhibitions, reported a significant rise in revenues by 32% year-on-year reaching £486 million, while the group’s revenue grew by 5% to £3.1 billion. Adjusted operating profit of Reed Exhibitions was £151 million, a growth of 34% over last year. Reed Business Information’s (RBI) revenues increased 1% to £347 million, and recorded an adjusted operating profit of £63 million – up 19% year-on-year.

According to Reed’s management, excluding the impact of the biennial show cycling, underlying revenues for Reed Exhibitions were up 12% compared to last year. The company attributed the strong revenue growth to the double digit revenue growth experienced in the U.S. and emerging markets, which excludes biennial cycling effects. Reed Exhibitions launched about 15 new events in the first half this year.

CEO of Reed Elsevier, Erik Engstrom, commented, “We have continued to transform our core businesses through organic development by investing in our digital platforms and developing and launching new online products and services. We have extended our position in high growth markets through organic new launches supported by selective small acquisitions.”

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

Reed denies exhibition asset sales claim

News this week: 2^nd December: As reported by U.S.-based Trade Show Executive, Reed Exhibitions chairman Mike Rusbridge has cleared the air amidst claims in the media, including a recent report from The Telegraph, that Reed is planning a possible £1 billion sale of the company’s exhibitions division.

The Telegraph claimed that two European private equity groups, namely Cinven and Apax, have held talks with Reed’s parent company, Reed Elsevier, about acquiring Reed Exhibitions. Rusbridge was quoted saying there is “no substance” to the reported discussions, and referred to the news reports as “rumour”. He also added that despite the recession, Reed has plans to launch 80 exhibitions worldwide over the next two years.

Reed Exhibitions is currently one of the largest trade show organiser globally with a portfolio of 440 events in 36 countries.

Rumours of Reed Exhibitions buy-out

The Telegraph is reporting that Reed Elsevier's management has been in discussions with private equity firms about a possible buy-out of Reed's US$1.0 billion exhibitions business.

The Telegraph reported:

"While Reed Elsevier’s chief executive, Erik Engstrom, has insisted there are no current plans for asset disposals, there has been considerable interest in the exhibitions division from the private equity industry.

It is understood that informal meetings were held between the management, led by the division’s chairman Mike Rusbridge, and private equity groups in the past six to 12 months, in which the buy-out firms expressed an interest.

Apax is understood to be keen to pair the division with Emap, which it acquired with Guardian Media Group for around £1.3bn in 2007."

Reed Elsevier and the private equity groups declined to comment on The Telegraph article. The article notes that the discussions took place earlier this year ("in the past six to 12 months") so it is not clear how active these discussions actually are, but given Reed willingness to sell-off and close dozens of its B2B print titles, it seems reasonable that Reed Elsevier would be willing to sell the exhibitions business and focus on its specialty publishing businesses - LexisNexis and Elsevier which posted revenues in 2009 of US$4.1 billion and US$3.2 billion respectively.

It a deal happens, it would be a mega-sized transaction by exhibition industry standards and it would have implications for the industry worldwide - including in Asia where Reed is the largest organiser measured by revenues.

Update: Now CityAM, a London-based, free business newspaper appears to have an exclusive claiming that Reed's discussions with private equity firms have stopped. For what that is worth...

Reed Exhibitions on the block... maybe

The Sunday Times is reporting that at least one private equity group is sniffing around Reed Exhibitions (RX)- owned by U.K.-listed Reed Elsevier (RE). The company's CEO Erik Engstrom claims that RE is just not interested, but with Reed Elsevier sitting on a £3.9 billion mountain of debt, it must be tempting to see what the market would offer.

According to The Sunday Times, Texas-based private equity firm, TPG, is interested and has valued RX at £1.5 billion. With RX's underlying profit of £150 million, that would seem a reasonable valuation. RX hosts some 470 events annually and employs over 2,700. In 2008, RX generated revenues of £707 million - about 13% of RE's £5.33 billion total revenues.

RE's half year results are due to be released on 29th July. Weak results just might push RE's management to think a little more seriously about a potential cash influx of £1.5 billion.