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Informa shares jumped on Wednesday despite the publisher and events organiser slumping to a loss after shouldering a major impairment over the first half. The FTSE 100 firm, which owns academic publisher Taylor & Francis, posted a statutory pre-tax loss of £254.2million, compared to a £237.4million profit over the same period last year.
Informa faced a £484.2million non-cash impairment related to its TechTarget business, which was spun-off and listed in the US late last year. The marketing business has seen its share price slump 70 per cent since its December IPO, meaning its market capitalisation has fallen below its net assets and resulting in the impairment
TechTarget saw a 4.3 per cent decline in underlying revenues during the first half, which Informa blamed on a ‘subdued market backdrop’. Its tech customers are prioritising ‘AI-related research and development over investment in product marketing and sales support’, according to Information.
But the wider Informa business still saw bumper reported revenue growth of 20.1 per cent to just over £2billlion over the period, as it benefited from new product lines as well as strong growth in live business-to-business events and academic markets. And Informa expects momentum to be maintained as it upgraded it full-year underlying revenue growth guidance from around 5 per cent to more than 6 per cent, helped by growth of more than 8 per cent in live business to business events.
The upgrade comes despite further weakening of the US dollar, which has fallen roughly 7.6 per cent since the start of 2025. Informa claims that every cent movement in the dollar impacts its revenues by around £18million and adjusted operating profit by roughly £7million on a full year basis.
The group also revealed a fresh £150million share buyback programme for the second half, after buying £200million back at an average price of 757p during the first. Boss Stephen A. Carter sad: ‘Informa is further increasing the pace of performance, delivering 20 per cent+ growth in our four key performance measures: revenues, profits, earnings and free cash flow.
‘Informa is built around world class brands, leading International market positions, first party data and, most importantly, colleagues with specialist expertise and a passion to deliver for customers.’ Informa shares were up 5.7 per cent to 873.4p in early trading, bringing 2025 gains to around 8 per cent.
