(Reuters) - British business media group Informa Plc (L:INF) said first-half revenue rose 41.3 percent on strong trading in its global exhibitions business.
The company, which organises about 200 exhibitions across the world, has been trying to grow its exhibitions business through acquisitions to cushion the impact of weakness in the academic publishing and business intelligence businesses.
Revenue from global exhibitions business, which accounted for about 37.4 percent of its total revenue, rose 77.7 percent to 342.8 million pounds in the first six months of the year.
Revenue from the academic publishing unit, which brings out specialist books and journals, rose 11.3 percent to 238.9 million pounds during the period.
Informa also said on Tuesday it sold its German domestic conference business Euroforum to German media group Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt GmbH for 15 million pounds.
The deal is expected to close by the end of October.