David Levin, UBM's Chief Executive Officer, commented:
"As highlighted at the IMS in April, challenging market conditions,
particularly in the UK construction sector, meant we had a tough first quarter.
A good second quarter substantially offset the Q1 performance, thanks in large
part to healthy growth at our shows in China. With continued strong forward
booking trends for our H2 Emerging Markets events we feel confident about the
second half.
"During the first half we completed the Delta disposal and accelerated the
restructuring of Marketing Services. We are aligning Marketing Services more
closely with our events and focusing it on more profitable, community-based
business models which take advantage of our strengths in high quality content
and audience reach. We're already seeing improved profitability, albeit on
lower revenues. We expect this restructuring programme to be substantially
complete by the end of the year.
"These steps underline our determination to focus UBM's business on delivering
faster growth and higher quality of earnings, as evidenced by our strong cash
flow performance in the first half. We look forward, with confidence, to the
second half of the year and beyond as UBM continues to develop as an events-led
marketing services and communications business. "
