Britain's United Business Media said it was on track for a slight 2010 sales decline after improvements in bookings for its major trade shows and online advertising in titles like Information Week, according to Reuters. UBM -- whose businesses include the Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, PR Newswire, and the OAG aviation guides -- posted a 6 percent rise in adjusted operating profit on flat sales, beating analysts' expectations as all divisions outperformed slightly. The company said on Friday it saw evidence of improved conditions in many markets and highlighted a 12 percent rise in forward bookings for its top 20 events for the next year, but remained cautious about the wider economy. "Assuming the improvement in wider economic conditions is sustained, we anticipate our solid first-half performance will continue, allowing UBM to deliver full-year results in line with our expectations," Chief Executive David Levin said on Friday. Asked what the company's expectations were, Chief Financial Officer Robert Gray told Reuters that full-year revenue should be down "somewhat" as UBM slowly recovered from the effects of the recession. He declined to give a full-year profit forecast. Shares in UBM, which had climbed 17 percent in the last month, were down 3.8 percent to 552 pence by 0727 GMT, the weakest performers in the European media index, which slipped 0.6 percent. UBS analyst Alastair Reid called UBM's first-half performance "solid" but noted the stock's strong run leading up to the results. UBM's rivals in events and exhibitions, Reed Elsevier , Informa and Euromoney, have also reported improved trading conditions as companies begin to loosen travel budgets. "We believe the stock remains inexpensive on an absolute basis, but on 9x 2011E EBITDA, it is more expensive than Reed Elsevier, Pearson, Wolters Kluwer and Informa, and remains our least preferred name amongst professional publishers," UBS's Reid wrote. UBM's underlying events revenue fell 2 percent and operating profit fell 5 percent, adjusted for the effects of acquisitions, disposals, biennial shows and foreign exchange. On Friday, UBM said it had bought a Chinese baby-products show for $9.7 million in cash plus a performance-related consideration of up to $6.4 million. China now accounts for more than 16 percent of UBM's profits. Levin told Reuters the pipeline for acquisitions was stronger than it was at the beginning of the year. UBM made 12 acquisitions in the first half compared with none in the first half of 2009, most of which were trade shows in fast-growing markets. UBM's total first-half revenue was flat at 434 million pounds ($679 million), beating the 424 million-pound SmartEstimate from Thomson Reuters StarMine, which weights analysts' forecasts according to their history of accuracy. First-half adjusted operating profit was 83.2 million pounds, and diluted earnings per share fell 5 percent to 18.6 pence, beating the 12.9 pence SmartEstimate. UBM kept its half-year dividend at 6 pence per share. ($1=.6395 Pound)
