Events company ITE (ITE) sinks 4% to 156p as an otherwise in line pre-close trading update is accompanied by warning on the impact of the attempted coup in Turkey in July.
The company says the instability hit September events in the region. In addition, World Food, its major Q4 event, was down 10.6% in terms of bookings, reflecting the challenging Russian events market. The one bright spot is a currency tailwind from weaker sterling post the Brexit vote. Revenue for the September 2016 financial year is expected to be around £133m, down modestly on 2015's £136m.
Canaccord Genuity incorporates downgrades to its forecasts for September 2016 and September 2017 and reiterates its 'hold' recommendation, upping its price target from 150p to 160p. Analyst Simon Davies comments: 'At some stage, we believe ITE will offer an exciting recovery play on the Oil price/Russian economy, but it still feels too early.'
The company is undergoing a change at the top with Russell Taylor standing down to be replaced by former Ascential (ASCL) man Mark Shashoua at the beginning of September and Andrew Beach, from marketing analytics business Ebiquity (EBQ:AIM), joining later in October. Full year results are out on 29 November.
