Trading
The Group held three larger events since the issue of its Trading Update on 22 November 2016. The Flower Show (landscaping equipment and services) in Turkey, MEBAA (aerospace) in Dubai and the World Anti-Aging Congress (medical) in Las Vegas all performed in line with expectations.
Strategic Progress in 2016
– Visitor/buyer growth across the portfolio was 7% on a like-for-like basis – well ahead of the Group's target of 5%.
– There were 10 brand replications including a very successful second edition of GESS (education) in Indonesia.
– Three earnings accretive acquisitions strengthening our position in the two largest exhibition markets globally:
– Connect, a market leading business travel and meetings event organiser in the US targeting industry leading planners, suppliers and experts focused on the Association, Corporate, Sports, and Specialty verticals;
– Hometex, the leading bi-annual home textiles exhibition in China, where the new exhibition centre in Shenzhen offers a significant organic growth opportunity from the 2019 edition onwards; and
– Intex, a major event organising business based in Shanghai that runs a portfolio of events including Music China (instruments), CES Asia (consumer electronics) and Hortiflorexpo IPM (flowers).
Outlook
Prospects for organic growth in 2017 are positive. Forward bookings for the Group's major events – which this year will include the biennial Labelexpo Europe and the Dubai Air Show – are encouraging and we are aiming to increase substantially the number of brand replications worldwide.
Overall, across the Group's portfolio, bookings are tracking in line with management expectations and whilst it is very early in the year, we are confident of another good performance in 2017.
Douglas Emslie, Tarsus Group Managing Director, said:
“We have performed well in 2016. We have delivered strong buyer growth, further developed our growth prospects through our replication programme and increased our exposure to two strategically important markets with the additions of Connect in the US and Intex and Hometex in China.
“Bookings for our flagship biennial events, the Dubai Airshow and Labelexpo Europe, are promising. Our accelerated programme of brand replications is progressively adding to our growth. While we remain ever-mindful of geo-political uncertainty, 2017 – the larger of the years in our biennial cycle – is shaping up to be an exciting one for the Group.”
The Group expects to announce its final results for the year ended 31 December 2016 on 1 March 2017.
The Company will be hosting a presentation to analysts at 11.00am today at the offices of Investec Bank plc at 2 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7QP. No new material information will be made available.