Events and professional information business Informa (INFA) gains 6.4% to 719p on a better-than-expected first six months of 2017.
Revenue is up 3.7% year-on-year against the consensus estimate for growth of 2.4%. A total of £915.4m is also 6% ahead of consensus.
The driver for the beat is its global exhibitions business which delivered underlying revenue growth of 11% and now accounts for 37% of group revenue.
MODERATING GROWTH
We flagged the attractions of the company and took a detailed look at the investment case in mid-June. You can read that article here.
Growth is expected to moderate in the second half with its fastest growing events taking place in the first half of the year. But management are still guiding for a minimum 6% hike in the dividend for 2017, up from the previous guidance of 4%, and say they will revisit the dividend policy after this year.
