At the Huveaux PLC AGM today, the Chairman, Kevin Hand, will make the following statement:
“The first 5 months of the year have seen the sale of our Education Division to Harper Collins for £10m and the UK General Election which has resulted in the new Coalition Government.
The sale of the Education Division has left the Group focused on its Political Division and with the comfort of a healthy balance sheet with positive cash balances. Following the sale, we announced our intention to return to the payment of a dividend and the necessary Capital Reduction exercise will be processed following the passing of a resolution at today’s AGM.
The UK General Election has resulted in increased interest in the UK Parliament, with a new focus on transparency. We are seeing strong demand for information on the new Parliament with interest in all 3 major political parties creating increased demand for events.
The announcement of cuts within the public sector has resulted in some reduction in demand for some of our training events and some uncertainty for potential sponsors of events aimed at this market. This is being mitigated by creating additional conferences and events around the new coalition government.
The Group’s trading remains significantly weighted to the second half of the year – which has been exacerbated by the Election which has pushed additional events into the second half. The Board is cautious regarding how deeply the cuts will affect the second half of the year, but remains confident that any such reduction will be offset by increased demand across the remainder of the portfolio and thus remains confident regarding the full year’s results.”
For further information, please contact:
Huveaux PLC
Gerry Murray
Rupert Levy
020 7811 5026
Brewin Dolphin (NOMAD)
Sandy Fraser
0845 213 2072