Informa

Last updated

Informa plc
Company type Public limited company
LSE:  INF
FTSE 100 Component
Industry Publishing, business intelligence, global exhibitions, Events
Predecessors
FoundedDecember 1998
Headquarters London, England, UK
Number of locations
150 offices
Area served
43+ countries worldwide
Key people
 Stephen Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes (CEO)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
ServicesSpecialist information, scholarly research, electronic publishing, event management, exhibitions, business intelligence
RevenueIncrease2.svg £2,262.4 million (2022) [1]
Increase2.svg £496.3 million (2022) [1]
Increase2.svg £1,635.3 million (2022) [1]
Number of employees
11,000 (2024) [2]
Divisions Informa Connect, Informa Markets, Informa Tech, Taylor & Francis
Website informa.com

Informa plc is a British publishing, business intelligence, and exhibitions group based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Contents

It has offices in 43 countries and around 11,000 employees. Informa owns numerous brands including CRC Press, Fan Expo HQ, Game Developers Conference, Routledge, and Taylor & Francis.

Informa acquired UBM in June 2018 as part of its strategy to expand in North America and Asia. [3] [4]

History

Informa itself was created in 1998 by the merger of IBC Group plc and LLP Group plc. [5] Since then Informa has expanded considerably, including a 2004 merger with the publishing company Taylor & Francis and a 2005 acquisition of IIR Holdings, a human capital development company, for £768 million. [6] [7] In October 2006, the company was approached by Springer Science and Business Media in a takeover bid, [8] but in early November the Informa board rejected the 630p per share offer as too low. [9]

In early 2007, chairman Richard Hooper announced his retirement in May and, after consulting with major shareholders, the company moved chief executive Peter Rigby to chairman, and managing director David Gilbertson to Rigby's former post. Informa explained Rigby's move by the need to maintain management stability, although it generated some controversy because it did not follow the advice of the UK's Combined Code on Corporate Governance. [6] [10]

On 8 June 2008, The Sunday Telegraph revealed that United Business Media (UBM) had proposed a merger with Informa to create a media group worth over £3 billion. [11] The talks were confirmed by Informa in a press release that same day, but described as "preliminary". [12] [13] Previously on 13 May The Times had reported that the Carlyle Group and Apax Partners were considering bidding for the company. [14] On 17 June talks with UBM ended because of the rapid rise in Informa's stock price after the public disclosure of the potential merger. [15] On 26 June a private equity consortium consisting of Providence Equity Partners, the Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman proposed a takeover bid offering 506 pence per share. [16]

In May 2009 the company announced that it would restructure its business to be incorporated in Jersey but tax resident in Switzerland. [17]

The discontinued domain Informaworld provided subscribers with more than half a million journal articles and 13,000 e-books from all its imprints. [18] In June 2011 the journals and e-books transferred to a new website, Taylor & Francis Online. Abstracting and indexing databases and bibliographic databases were to move from Informaworld to Taylor & Francis Online at a later date. [19]

In July 2013, the company announced that Peter Rigby would retire at the end of 2013 to be replaced as CEO by Stephen Carter. [20] Also in 2013, Informa acquired the Canadian company Hobby Star Marketing, who ran the Fan Expo Canada and Toronto Comicon comic book conventions. Informa has since acquired other conventions and placed them under the auspices of their Fan Expo HQ brand, including Dallas Comic Con and MegaCon. [21] [22] [23]

In December 2013, Informa acquired the assets of Elsevier Business Intelligence (EBI) from Reed Elsevier. The EBI business unit includes such publications as The Pink Sheet, The Gray Sheet, IN VIVO, Start-Up, and the Strategic Transactions database along with a series of notable conferences. The EBI assets combined with Scrip, Datamonitor and several other publications formed the newly created Pharma Intelligence division of Informa Business Information. [24]

In January 2014, Carter became CEO of Informa plc. [25] In September 2017, Informa announced that it would be acquiring Dove Medical Press. [26]

In January 2018, Informa announced its intent to acquire UBM plc. [27] The transaction was completed in June 2018. [28]

In 2019, Informa sold the former UBM Life Sciences to MJH Associates. [29] Later in 2019, Informa traded it Agriculture Intelligence unit to IHS Markit in exchange for most of IHS Markit's Technology, Media and Telecoms division. [30] Also in 2019, Informa sold the former Penton design & engineering, manufacturing, energy, buildings, and commercial vehicle divisions, and the former UBM Automotive, to Endeavor Business Media. [31]

In February 2020, Informa launched Omdia by consolidating its portfolio of market analyst companies, Ovum Ltd, Heavy Reading, Tractica, and the majority of IHS Markit's technology, media and telecommunications research business, into a unified brand. The combined research offering includes more than 400 analysts and consultants covering 150 technology markets. Collectively, Omdia issues over 3,000 research reports annually. [32]

In February 2022, Informa sold its Informa Pharma Intelligence unit to investment fund, Warburg Pincus for $2.6 billion. [33]

Previous logo Informalogo.PNG
Previous logo

It also sold Lloyd's List and EPFR to Montagu Private Equity in 2022. [34]

In March 2023, in a cash and shares deal, Informa acquired the Irish Tarsus Group from Charterhouse Capital Partners for a reported GBP 790m. [35] [36] [37]

Operations

Informa is organized into four operating divisions: Informa Connect, Informa Markets, Informa Tech, and Taylor & Francis. [38]

In June 2021, John Rishton was appointed as chairman, replacing Derek Mapp. [39]

Brands

Informa owns numerous brands including CRC Press, Fan Expo HQ, Game Developers Conference, Routledge, and Taylor & Francis. Retired and consolidated brands include Institute for International Research, Ovum Ltd, Penton, The Public Ledger, and UBM.

Informa Connect

Informa Markets

Informa Tech

Taylor & Francis

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taylor & Francis</span> Commercial publishing group

Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 Research and Dovepress. It is a division of Informa plc, a United Kingdom-based publisher and conference company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S&P Global</span> American financial services company

S&P Global Inc. is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial information and analytics. It is the parent company of S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Global Mobility, S&P Global Engineering Solutions, S&P Global Sustainable1, and S&P Global Commodity Insights, CRISIL, and is the majority owner of the S&P Dow Jones Indices joint venture. "S&P" is a shortening of "Standard and Poor's".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UBM plc</span> UK-based media company

UBM plc was a British business-to-business (B2B) events organiser headquartered in London, England, before its acquisition by Informa in 2018. It had a long history as a multinational media company. Its main focus was on B2B events, but its principal operations included live media and business-to-business communications, marketing services and data provision, and it principally served the technology, healthcare, trade and transport, ingredients and fashion industries. UBM was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Routledge</span> British multinational academic publisher

Routledge is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and social science. The company publishes approximately 1,800 journals and 5,000 new books each year and their backlist encompasses over 140,000 titles. Routledge is claimed to be the largest global academic publisher within humanities and social sciences.

Janes is a global open-source intelligence company specialising in military, national security, aerospace and transport topics, whose name derives from British author Fred T. Jane.

CARFAX, Inc. is an American company that provides vehicle data to individuals and businesses. Its most well-known product is the CARFAX Vehicle History Report. Their other products include vehicle listings, car valuation, and buying and maintenance advice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ovum Ltd.</span> British market research company

Ovum, now part of Omdia, was an independent analyst and consultancy firm headquartered in London, specializing in global coverage of Telecommunications, Media and Technology.

<i>Official Guide of the Railways</i> Magazine on rail transport

The Official Railway Guide, originally the Official Guide of the Railways, was a quarterly magazine that published travel information. Originally produced by National Railway Publication Company of New York City from 1868, the guide was last published by IHS Markit in mid-2020.

Penton was an information services and marketing company. The company's three largest revenue streams came from events, digital and marketing services. Although Penton had a long history as a trade publisher, in 2015 it reported that 35 percent of its EBITDA derived from digital products, 54 percent from events, and 11 percent from print. The main industry segments served by Penton include agriculture, transportation, natural products/food, infrastructure, and design and manufacturing.

UBM Technology Group, formerly CMP Publications, was a business-to-business multimedia company that provided information and integrated marketing services to technology professionals worldwide. It offered marketers and advertisers services such as print, newsletters, custom web sites, and events. Its products and services include newspapers, magazines, Internet products, research, education and training, trade shows and conferences, direct marketing services and custom publishing.

Fan Expo Dallas, previously known as Dallas Comic Con, is a three-day speculative fiction, fan convention held annually in the Dallas, Texas area. Larger in scale than the Dallas Fan Days events under the same management, Fan Expo Dallas focuses on comic book artists, writers, and publishers. These events usually also feature question and answer sessions, a large dealers room, and autograph-signing with a number of famous comic and media guests. The event is produced by Informa doing business as Fan Expo HQ.

Markit was a British financial information and services company with over 4,000 employees, founded in 2003 as an independent source of credit derivative pricing. The company provides independent data, trade processing of derivatives, foreign exchange and loans, customised technology platforms and managed services. The company aims to enhance transparency, reduce financial risk and improve operational efficiency. Its client base includes institutional participants in the financial marketplace. On 12 July 2016, Markit and IHS Inc. merged in an all-stock merger of equals to form IHS Markit. IHS Markit later merged with S&P Global on 28 February 2022.

Stephen Andrew Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes,, is a Scottish businessman and politician. Starting his career as CEO of J Walter Thompson UK & Ireland and COO of NTL UK & Ireland, in 2003 Carter became the founding CEO of Ofcom in the United Kingdom. He was subsequently the group CEO of Brunswick Group from 2007 until 2008, when he stepped down to join the administration of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Initially serving in 2008 as Brown's chief of strategy, principal advisor, and the Acting Downing Street Chief of Staff, he was the Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting from 2008 to 2009. Between 2010 and 2013 he held various management positions at Alcatel-Lucent, and in 2013 he became the group CEO of Informa, an information and events company.

Screen Digest Ltd was a company providing business intelligence, research and analysis on the global media markets based in London, United Kingdom, that has grown out of a monthly journal of that name that was founded in 1971. It was acquired by the technology researcher iSuppli in 2010, which was in turn acquired by information services company IHS Inc. In 2019, successor company IHS Markit sold most of its Technology, Media and Telecoms division to Informa. In exchange, IHS Markit received Informa's Agriculture Intelligence unit. Informa merged the business with in 2020 to form Omdia.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">R.L. Polk & Company</span> Data publishing company

R. L. Polk & Company was a provider of business and marketing information to the automotive industry, insurance companies, and related businesses. It was based in Southfield, Michigan with operations in several other countries, including Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, China and Australia. Its business-to-business marketing services included PolkInsight, the National Vehicle Population Profile (NVPP), Blackburn / Polk Marketing Services Inc. (BPMSI), Polk Dealer Marketing Manager, The Ultimate Perspective (T.U.P), Polk Canada Net, Polk Vehicle Lifecycle System, Polk CrossSell Reports, and Polk Total Market Predictor. From 1999 it was the owner of the vehicle data service Carfax.

Journal of Commerce is a biweekly magazine published in the United States that focuses on global trade topics. First published in 1827 in New York, it has a circulation of approximately 15,000. It provides editorial content to manage day-to-day international logistics and shipping needs, covering the areas of cargo and freight transportation, export and import, global transport logistics and trade, international supply chain management and US Customs regulations.

JOC Group Inc., is a provider of global intelligence for trade, transportation and logistics professionals. It is founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Owned by IHS Inc., its brands include The Journal of Commerce, PIERS: The Port Import/Export Reporting Service, and a number of directory databases covering the international trade, railroad, and trucking markets. The JOC Group also stages about 11 conferences and exhibitions serving international trade and maritime markets.

Fan Expo is a group of fan conventions operated by Fan Expo HQ, a unit of the Informa Connect division of Informa plc. Most of its events are run under the Fan Expo brand, which stems from its namesake, the Toronto-based Fan Expo Canada.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Preliminary Results 2022" (PDF). Informa. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  2. ↑ "About us". Informa. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
  3. ↑ Fildes, Nic (15 September 2016). "Informa acquires US events and publishing rival for £1.2bn". Financial Times. FT. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  4. ↑ Nilsson, Patricia (7 March 2019). "Informa sales climb after £4bn UBM takeover". Financial Times. FT. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  5. ↑ "LLP links with IBC in pounds 300m business group". The Independent. 20 November 1998. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  6. 1 2 "ROUNDUP Informa names new chairman, CEO after FY profits soar". Forbes. 14 March 2007. Retrieved 31 December 2007.[ dead link ]
  7. ↑ "T&F Informa buys conferences group Institute for International Research for 768 mln stg". Forbes. 1 June 2007. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2007.
  8. ↑ Kundnani, Hans (19 October 2006). "Springer Science & Business Media launches bid for Informa". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
  9. ↑ "Informa rejects Springer bid". AFX News Limited. 3 November 2006. Retrieved 30 December 2007.[ dead link ]
  10. ↑ "Informa unveils new CEO, chairman as 2006 results top forecasts". Forbes. 14 March 2006. Retrieved 30 December 2007.[ dead link ]
  11. ↑ Harrington, Ben; Kleinman, Mark (8 June 2008). "Media giants United Business Media and Informa open talks on £3bn merger". The Sunday Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 13 June 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
  12. ↑ "Statement Regarding Press Speculation". Informa. 8 June 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2008.[ permanent dead link ]
  13. ↑ "UBM and Informa confirm merger talks". The Guardian. London. 9 June 2008. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  14. ↑ Andrews, Amanda; Kennedy, Siobhan (13 May 2008). "Informa garners attention of private equity". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 9 July 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
  15. ↑ Arnott, Sarah (18 June 2008). "Cash approach for Informa as merger talks end with UBM". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 19 June 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  16. ↑ Thiel, Simon; Sabine Pirone (2 July 2008). "Informa Rises on $4.29 Billion Private-Equity Offer". Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  17. ↑ Kollewe, Julia (1 May 2009). "Publishing firm Informa blames budget for tax switch". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2009.
  18. ↑ Griffin, Daniel (December 2006). "Single vision of the world at Informa". Information World Review (230): 2.
  19. ↑ "Taylor & Francis Online – FAQs" (PDF). Taylor & Francis Group. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  20. ↑ "Informa announces retirement of Peter Rigby and appointment of Stephen Carter". 10 July 2013. Archived from the original on 16 August 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  21. ↑ "Dallas Comic Con Gets a New Owner and Home". Dallas Observer. 18 February 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  22. ↑ Dineen, Caitlin (7 April 2015). "Orlando's MegaCon sold to Informa". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 8 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  23. ↑ Mantei, Shelley (9 April 2015). "Informa Exhibitions Expands Pop Culture Convention Portfolio With MegaCon Orlando" (PDF) (Press release). Orlando, Florida: FAN EXPO HQ. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  24. ↑ "Informa Acquires Elsevier Business Intelligence". 9 December 2013. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  25. ↑ "Informa Confirms Stephen Carter To Be CEO, Effective Jan. 1 – Update". RTT News. 31 December 2013. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  26. ↑ "Informa acquires Dove Medical Press, AA appoints Simon Breakwell as permanent chief executive". BOLSAMANIA. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  27. ↑ Garrahan, Matthew; Pfeifer, Sylvia (16 January 2018). "Informa to buy exhibitions rival UBM for £4bn". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  28. ↑ "Informa's takeover of peer UBM effective after court sanction". Alliance News. 15 June 2018. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  29. ↑ "Informa Sells UBM Life Sciences Media Brands to MJH Associates for $100 Million". Folio. 1 February 2019. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  30. ↑ "IHS Markit swaps group that researches optical communications for Informa's agribusiness unit". Lightwave. 24 May 2019. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  31. ↑ "Endeavor Business Media Acquires More Than 20 B2B Titles from Informa Plc". Folio. 11 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  32. ↑ "Informa Tech launches "research powerhouse" Omdia". Digital TV. 10 February 2020. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  33. ↑ "Informa sells Informa Intelligence business unit". Reuters. London. 10 February 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  34. ↑ "Informa sells Lloyd's List for £385m as B2B giant sees revenue bounce back". Press Gazette. 5 August 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  35. ↑ "Charterhouse exits Tarsus to Informa for GBP 790m EV | Unquote". www.unquote.com. 9 March 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  36. ↑ "Informa Acquires Tarsus Group in $940 Million Mega Deal". TSNN. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  37. ↑ "Informa acquires Tarsus in $940m deal". Exhibition World. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  38. ↑ "Divisions - Informa PLC". Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  39. ↑ "John Rishton". www.informa.com. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  40. ↑ "Everything you need to check out at FAN EXPO Vancouver 2022 | Listed". dailyhive.com. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  41. ↑ "Inside Self-Storage World Expo, Las Vegas, July 13–16, 2021". issworldexpo.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  42. ↑ "About". Industry Dive . Retrieved 12 August 2023.
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