Hyve Group expects banking turmoil to hit attendance at two of its events

Hyve Group event attendance is set to be hit by recent banking turmoil, but full-year profits are still expected to be in line with expectations. 

The London-listed events organiser, which earlier this month agreed to a £481million takeover by US-based private equity firm Providence, forecasts revenue of between £95million and £100million in the year to the end of March.

Events like Africa Oil Week, Mining Indaba, Spring Fair all saw strong growth in the first half, the company said, but it expects ‘some impact’ on its Fintech Meetup and Shoptalk events at the end of the month as a result of turmoil in the banking and technology sectors.

It has also held its first events in China since the start of the pandemic, including paint industry exhibition ChinaCoat, but noted a lack of international participation due to some Covid restrictions still being in place. 

Chief executive Mark Shashoua, who has led the company through a five-year streamlining plan completed last year, said the group had started the new year ‘with purpose and momentum’. 

Forward bookings were £145million as of 22 March, ahead of £102million in the same period last year. 

‘We remain conscious of challenges in the macro-economic environment globally, the threat of recession in a number of our markets and, in particular, the recent macro events in Banking and Tech sectors,’ Shashoua said. 

‘However, we believe we are well placed to weather any possible challenges, as marketing spend continues to gravitate towards must-attend leading events that drive return on investment.’

Hyve, formerly International Trade Exhibitions, was founded in 1991 by the Shashoua family, who were looking to capitalise on former Soviet Union states transitioning to market economies.

Almost all its exhibitions now take place across advanced economies after selling some global operations over the last year.

But Hyve shares have failed to recover since the £900billion events industry was brought to a halt at the start of the pandemic.

This was worsened by the war in Ukraine and Hyve’s decision to dump its Russian business in response.

Hyve shares were down 0.5 per cent to 111.20p in morning trade on Monday.

While they have surged by around 53 per cent since the start of the year, they remain down by around 80 per cent from their pre-pandemic peak of 610p. 

If Providence’s takeover is approved by shareholders, the deal would close in May and mean the company would de-list from the London market.