The company’s major annual events, which generate more than £1m of revenue a year and are its principal area of focus, grew 5.0%.
Last year saw the company acquire US events and marketing services business Advanstar Communications for £599m, as well as sell its PR Newswire division. These rationalisations meant the Events division brought in a total of £630m in revenue - an upwards change of 40% from 2014 - and £203m of adjusted operating profit.UBM stated its had seen positive progression across the year. It ran a total of 42 biennial events during 2015, which contributed £48.6m of revenue and £19.3m of adjusted operating profit.
Tim Cobbold, chief executive at UBM, said: "Looking forward, UBM is now a focused business with more than 82% of revenues derived from events across a range of industry verticals and geographies. The board expects continued good growth (excluding the impact of biennials and ongoing portfolio rationalisation) although it remains conscious of the global macroeconomic uncertainty.
"It also expects further margin progress although this will be offset by the even-year biennial effect. Our Events First strategy will deliver growth, margin and, we believe, create the best platform in the industry."
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