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Bonhill reports growth from US acquisition

By Oliver Haill

Date: Friday 18 Jan 2019

Bonhill reports growth from US acquisition

(Sharecast News) - Bonhill Group, the business publisher and events organiser, said it expected to beat market expectations for underlying growth over the nine months of its "full year".
The acquired title of InvestmentNews generated 14% growth to $19.1m for the calendar year, of which around £6m will be for the benefit of the AIM-listed company since the mid-August purchase was completed.

The UK events business accelerated its rate of growth, with total sales of roughly £0.5m from new events helping the division doubled total sales against the same 9 months last year.

UK media, which includes investment brands such as What Investment, Growth Company Investor, TaxGuide.co.uk Smallbusiness.co.uk and Growthbusiness.co.uk, saw "improved momentum" in sales in the final quarter after a flat first half, with the recent restructuring giving management "greater confidence in its potential going forward".

Sales for the flagship Women in IT event in London, coming at the end of January, are 35% ahead of last year's and, with two corresponding Women in IT events launched in Ireland and Silicon Valley at the end of last year, the company was "excited about the potential" of the franchise.

Chief executive Simon Stilwell, the ex-Liberum founder who joined what was Vitesse Media in August 2017 and changed the company's name a year later, was "delighted" with the integration of InvestmentNews and said there are "clear major opportunities" to develop the brand in the years ahead.

"We are continuing to invest across the business, particularly in high calibre team members to drive the business ahead and look forward to another year of growth and development with confidence."

Shares in Bonhill rose almost 3% to 90p on Friday.

House broker Canaccord said the opportunity for InvestmentNews was to broaden it out "from a print-led business into a specialist information supplier, leveraging the value of its content through conferences, digital subscription products and data sales; and Bonhill looks increasingly well positioned to exploit this".

Full year adjusted profit before tax is forecast to come in at £0.5m on sales of £7.8m.

"It is still early days in the InvestmentNews integration, while the group is investing in its new technology platform and investing in its management team. But we see strong growth coming through over the next years, and there is clearly upward pressure on our revenue assumptions, given the stronger run rate at IN."

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