Events and publishing group Informa (INF) appears to be comfortably bedding in its £3.8bn acquisition of UBM, according to its latest trading update.
The combined FTSE 100 group saw underlying revenues grow by 3.9% over 10 months to 31 October and is confident of meeting full-year expectations thanks to its strengthened position in the US, Asia and Middle East.
Informa’s main exhibitions business has seen its usual slight slowdown in revenues since the summer but underlying growth of 6.9% is still respectable.
Meanwhile the UBM events business has seen revenue growth pick up to 3.4% since June thanks to strong performances from the pharma and technology sector and forward bookings are strong.
Academic publishing is also growing slightly faster in the second half than the first half with journals seeing consistent renewal rates and e-books delivering a particularly good performance.
In terms of integrating UBM into the Informa structure it seems as though most of the hard work has been done and objectives for next year have been set.
While this year has been about identifying cost synergies, next year the group expects to grow revenues thanks through cross-selling opportunities and leveraging its increased international scale.
Shares in Informa have been drifting since the half-year figures were released in July but the latest trading update news seems to have arrested the decline with the stock trading up 3% to 713p.
