Ascential PLC (LSE:ASCL) shares jumped almost 14% in early trade to a six-week high after it reported a healthy rise in revenue, lifted by its Events division, which helped narrow pre-tax losses in the first of the year.
In the six months to 30 June 2023, the information, analytics, events and eCommerce optimisation company said revenue rose to £307.4 million from £260.7 million the year before, boosted by a 25% jump in sales in its Events unit.
Within the Events operation, marketing revenue rose 28%, Lions' revenue climbed 30% and the firm saw continued double-digit growth from WARC's subscription business, up 12%.
The jump in revenue helped reduced the half-year pre-tax loss to £11.8 million from £41.6 million last year, while adjusted EBITDA improved to £78.6 million from £67.2 million.
Retail & Financial Services revenue grew 17%, Digital Commerce segment revenue rose 10% and Product Design segment revenue climbed 8%.
Ascential said the strong revenue growth outpaced a market impacted by the continuing challenging retail environment, aided by continued key client wins in the first half.
Looking ahead, chief executive Duncan Painter said: “We have had a solid start to the second half.
“Despite continued macro uncertainty impacting the industries we serve and currency headwinds, our businesses remain well set for the year, supported by multiple growth levers,” he added.
The shares leapt over 13% to 216.6p in early trade, the highest since early August, but by mid-morning eased back to 205p, a rise of over 7% for the day.
Analyst Jessica Pok at Peel Hunt said “this was a strong 1H with growth in all divisions.”