Ascential PLC (LON:ASCI) saw strong underlying growth in 2019 and forecast another good year in 2020, sending its shares 5% higher.
Underlying revenues at the marketing intelligence group rose by 19% to £416mln in the year just ended, while underlying profits rose 8.5% on a proforma basis to £128.5mln.
“Looking forward, we believe we are well-positioned to continue to drive strong performance in our scaled and structurally growing markets, said Duncan Painter, chief executive.
“Group revenue [in 2020] will be in the range of £425m-£455m (using current exchange rates) and adjusted EBITDA margins of between 30% and 32%."
Statutory profits dropped 65% to £10.2mln as the marketing and media group took a sizeable one-off charge for deferred consideration on the acquisition of Flywheel Digital after it performed exceptionally well.
Shares were up 18p at 372p in early trading.