ITE exhibits strong growth
Article Date: Dec 11 2000Acquisitive exhibition organiser ITE, which clinched a £40 million fundraising last month, has recorded a 36 per cent pre-tax profit increase to £10.3 million for the year to September, writes Helena Keers.
Fully listed ITE pushed up turnover by ten per cent to £38.8 million, in a year which included five acquisitions and ten joint ventures undertaken in the UK, Turkey, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Egypt and Indonesia. The two-part fundraising was staged to clear the company's debts and fund further expansion, in line with company strategy. 'Acquisition is the company's mainstay' says deputy chairman Sir Hugh Bidwell. It is all about partnerships in this day and age to get you where you want to go'.
To this end, ITE set up a strategic alliance in November with the venture capitalist Veronis Suhler to support ITE's expansion into new media and business-to-business markets. VS&A Communications Partners, a private equity affiliate of Veronis Suhler, spent £30 million on a 16.9 per cent stake in ITE at 70p a share.
At the same time, existing shareholders injected £9.68 million into ITE at the same price. This funding has enabled ITE to repay all its debts and left it with a £20 million cash war chest for more acquisitions.
ITE organised 140 exhibitions last year, but its project to launch a number of business-to-business portal sites slowed down due to the fall in tech stocks. In July, the company bought 51 per cent of software company X-RM for £500,000. In 2001, broker Investec Henderson Crosthwaite predicts pre-tax profits will roll in at £17.7million, with earnings per share of 6.1p. The shares rose by 1.5p to 62.5p on the back of the results.
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