Final Results

Informa Group PLC
6 March 2001




For release: 6th March 2001

                              INFORMA GROUP PLC

                  Results for the Year to 31st December 2000



Financial Highlights

  * Turnover up 30% to £297million (1999: £228million)
  * EBITDA up 31% to £51.1million (1999: £38.9million)
  * £54.5million raised through a cash and vendor placing
  * Adjusted earnings per share up 23% to 23.17p
  * Telecoms and Media profits up 89%; Biomedical and Pharmaceuticals up
    133%
  * Flagship pharmaceutical journal acquisition announced - 'BioTechniques'



Informa Group's Chairman Peter Rigby commented:

'This record result reflects the quality of the business information we
generate, the strength of our leading niche brands across six international
marketplaces and the synergies which we are continuing to exploit between our
publications and our events. We are looking forward to another successful year
in 2001.'

Enquiries:

Peter Rigby/David Gilbertson/Jim Wilkinson

Informa Group plc

020 7453 2222

Lydia Pretzlik/Fiona Piper

The Maitland Consultancy

020 7379 5151




Results

We are pleased to report a successful 2000 - a year in which our turnover
increased by 30% to £297million (1999: £228million) and our earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation of goodwill (and exceptional items
in 1999) rose by 31% to £51.1million (1999: £38.9million).

Adjusted earnings per share (before goodwill amortisation, and exceptional
items in 1999) increased from 18.79p to 23.17p, a rise of 23%.

On the strength of these results we are recommending a final dividend of 5.07p
payable on 29 May 2001 to shareholders whose names are on the register of
members on 27 April 2001. Taken with the interim dividend of 2.53p this gives
a total dividend for the year of 7.6p (1999: 7.0p).

Operating Review

These results are a combination of strong organic growth and the successful
integration of a number of strategic acquisitions into our group. Almost half
(15%) of our EBITDA increase of 31% was attributable to organic development
within our existing activities with the remainder coming from acquisitions
made in the preceding twelve months. The highlight of our performance came
from our largest division - Telecoms and Media - which posted profits which
were 89% higher than in 1999.

Our position as the world's leading information provider to the mobile
telephone industry was underpinned in 2000 by the strengthening of our range
of publications and information services and by the continuing successful
development of new and existing industry-leading events to meet the huge
information requirements being created by emerging technologies such as UMTS
(3G), Bluetooth and Mobile Internet.

Our flagship annual GSM World Congress grew over 30% and attracted 5,500
delegates in 2000. The 2001 event held in Cannes last month saw an equivalent
increase in delegate numbers to 7,200 and a 70% rise in related exhibition
income, demonstrating that the industry's appetite for the high quality
business intelligence and marketing and networking opportunities offered by
the group's products is showing no signs of abating.

As a range of different industries converge upon the mobile handset as their
preferred delivery medium for a vast array of new services and products, our
customer base is broadening and deepening far beyond core telecoms companies
into areas as diverse as integrated systems, mobile applications, internet
services, entertainment and on-line information providers. The attendees and
the lists of sponsors and exhibitors at our 200-plus Telecoms & Media events
now fully reflect the new diversity of this industry.

These companies' need to monitor and understand the fast-changing technical
and commercial developments in the mobile communications sector was further
underlined by strong performances from Mobile Communications International,
our advertising-led flagship monthly magazine; EMC, our international mobile
telecoms database, now directly accessible over the internet; ARC, our
telecommunications management report and research group; Chorleywood, our
billing and customer care specialist consultancy; and across our range of
sector-specific subscription newsletters and journals.

We also saw a strong performance in our Biomedical and Pharmaceutical market
sector which more than doubled its profits, albeit from a smaller base. We
have established a strong niche position as a conference and information
provider to the pharmaceutical industry in the research and development field
both in the US and internationally. Our Drug Discovery Technologies
conference, held in Boston each August and our largest event outside the
telecoms field, attracted a record 1,200 delegates (1999: 700) and some 200
exhibition stands.

The possibilities offered by the successful mapping of the human genome in the
broad area of pharmaceutical research, drug discovery and drug development
promise well for this sector of our business and we are delighted to announce
today that we have been able to agree the acquisition of BioTechniques. This
leading bioresearch journal for laboratory scientists will give us the
powerful publishing brand that we have lacked in this field and will help us
accelerate our growth in pharmaceuticals information. We believe this sector
has the potential to become another large, high growth business for Informa
over the next few years.

Our one performance reverse of the year came in our Maritime, Trade and
Transport division which saw a small year-on-year slippage in its underlying
profit being exacerbated by the absence of the major biennial exhibition
Cruise + Ferry, which returns to the account in 2001, and the inclusion in its
results of a number of loss-making automotive titles acquired as part of the
transaction which brought in the telecoms publications from the Financial
Times in late 1999. These automotive publications were sold just before the
year-end and will not therefore impact the 2001 result. As the core maritime
market continues to emerge from a low point in its economic cycle, and in
particular as advertising spend is rebuilt in the sector, we expect to see
this segment of our business return to a growth track in 2001.

Our other divisions performed satisfactorily. Our Financial and Legal
businesses each grew by 13-14% in 2000 while Commodities and Energy, which was
buoyed both by a significant acquisition in the area of commercial fishing and
by the return to prosperity of the world oil markets, saw a 43% overall profit
growth, of which 9% was organic.

Across all our divisions there was a continued increase in sponsorship and
exhibition activity. Our highly targeted conference programmes are proving
increasingly attractive to commercial sponsors and companies wishing to
demonstrate their products and services to key decision makers in the niche
areas we serve. Revenues from this source, which now account for 13% of group
turnover, increased 66% year on year.

We also saw further encouraging advances in our electronic revenues, both on
our subscription business where sales rose 30% to £26.2million and in internet
marketing where we more than doubled on-line product sales to £25million, with
around a fifth of that revenue deriving from new customers. As a result of our
internet marketing initiatives we are now reaching wider audiences for our
products more cost effectively.

Our development spend on new electronic information products is being
maintained at around £3million per annum, a pace which we believe is in
keeping with our niche markets' growing demand for electronic access to our
content. This aspect of our business continues to perform at a margin above
20% and constituted 12% of group profit in 2000.

Electronic delivery is proving a profitable complement to our other modes of
information delivery but we continue to see the same levels of solidity and
growth in traditional media formats. Our hard copy subscriptions in 2000
renewed at an average of 80%, the same level they have consistently renewed at
in the past. Electronic media are ideal for the delivery of certain forms and
types of information but the utility of hard copy publications is still fully
valued by our customers. We are continuing to pursue new product development
across a broad range of information delivery formats.

Acquisitions

We remain active on the acquisition front and are finding a steady flow of
buying opportunities of high quality properties both as a result of
divestments from larger groups and from smaller companies seeking to
accelerate their development. In 2000 we acquired a US based electronic
financial informational service; a commodities monthly journal; a Dutch
executive training business; a range of exhibitions and titles in the
intermodal transport area and a small portfolio of telecommunications
publications in Australia. Already in 2001 we have acquired for $44.9million
MCM, a US-based real-time electronic information service which reports and
analyses fixed income (corporate and government), foreign exchange and equity
markets, which we plan to link closely with our existing information business
for that market: International Insider.

Since January 1998, the Group has spent a total of £152million on new
acquisitions and during the year we arranged a new facility of £200million
replacing our existing £110million syndicated loan.

We are also announcing today a vendor and cash placing to raise £54.5million
which will enable us to fund the BioTechniques acquisition and will strengthen
our ability to continue to take advantage of the best bolt on acquisition
opportunities when they arise.

Our strategy is to continue to acquire international publishing businesses and
strong niche brands which we believe we can extend and grow within our group
and which will meet our rate of return targets. We set a target of 15% return
on investment within three years on the acquisitions we make. Those we have
made so far are on track to reach that return on an aggregate basis in 2001.

Geographic Range

In addition to our well established operations in Germany, The Netherlands and
USA, our smaller and newer nationally-focused overseas businesses continue to
perform well. Our businesses in Singapore, France, Australia and Brazil all
posted record profits in 2000. Nordic events have proved successful and China
is becoming an increasingly profitable market. These companies, which focus on
exploiting domestic business information requirements, largely through the
organisation of events in the local language, both generate new ideas and
concepts which can be raised onto a larger stage in our international
programme and roll-out successful models which have been proven elsewhere
within our group. We believe our international range and coverage adds both to
our resilience and our potential.

Strategy and Strengths

The performance of the group in 2000, with the strong seam of organic growth
running though it, demonstrates that we are beginning to take full advantage
of our strengths. We have a unique combination of media assets and the
capacity of our research-led conference programme of some 3,500 events a year
enables us to identify early and cost effectively the subjects of most
interest and highest impact on the commercial sectors we serve. This is done
regionally, nationally, and internationally, allowing the best ideas to be
exploited on a number of different levels. This conference engine also enables
us to extend the value and potential of the publishing brands within our group
and those we bring in through acquisition.

We organise our international businesses now largely in market-facing
divisions, which puts conference and publishing activity in each sector under
single unified management. We believe this structure maximises the
opportunities in the markets we serve. We are succeeding in driving growth
through synergies such as cross marketing and brand extension and also by
accelerating new product development.

The core strength of Informa comes from the leading positions we enjoy in a
broad range of market sectors. We believe that the combination of those assets
and the broad international spread of our business will enable us to continue
to deliver consistently good levels of profit growth on an annual basis. We
will continue to invest carefully in these six sectors to ensure that we find
the correct balance between maximising the present and building for the
future.

Current Trading

Performance in the first quarter of 2001 is in line with our expectations. Our
large annual German Energy event in January broke records in both delegates
and exhibition revenues as did the 2001 3GSM World Congress held last month in
Cannes. The 2001 Cruise + Ferry exhibition in May, which is already fully
sold, will generate a record profit for that event and our overall advertising
revenues and subscriber renewals are on budget.

We would not, of course, be immune from a significant slowdown in the world
economy if it occurs this year as some commentators are warning, though the
niche nature of our businesses are more closely related to the information
requirements and the pace of change within the distinct industrial sectors we
serve.

We believe there are many exciting opportunities for Informa in the future and
on the basis of our trading in the first three months and our forward
visibility of the business we remain positive on prospects for the year.





Peter Rigby David Gilbertson

Chairman Chief Executive





Consolidated Profit & Loss Account

For the year ended 31 December 2000
                      ------------ --------------- ----------------  
                        2000         1999        1999   1999
                      ------------ --------------- ----------------  
                Notes  Total       Before Exceptional  Total
                              exceptional       items
                                    items
                      ------------ --------------- ----------------  
                        £000         £000        £000   £000
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Turnover          (1) 296,992      227,773           -  227,773

Operating         (1)  46,811       35,680     (5,687)   29,993
profit/(loss) 
before         
goodwill amortisation

Goodwill amortisation  (5,900)      (2,313)          -   (2,313)
-------------------------------------------------------------------   
Operating profit/(loss)40,911       33,367     (5,687)   27,680

Disposal of subsidiary                       
undertakings 
and termination of
businesses               -            -        (2,676)   (2,676)

Loss on disposal 
of fixed assets          -            -          (740)     (740)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit/(loss) 
before interest    (1) 40,911       33,367     (9,103)   24,264

Net interest 
payable and other      (7,130)      (2,931)      (772)   (3,703)
similar items
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit/(loss) 
on ordinary                
activities before tax  33,781       30,436     (9,875)   20,561

Tax on profit/(loss) 
on ordinary         
activities            (12,400)     (10,880)     1,725    (9,155)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit/(loss) 
on ordinary                
activities after tax   21,381       19,556     (8,150)   11,406
Minority interests       (174)         (40)         -       (40)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit/(loss) for 
the financial          
year attributable 
to shareholders        21,207       19,516     (8,150)   11,366
Dividends              (8,922)                           (7,800)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Retained profit 
for the financial      12,285                             3,566
year
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dividends per share       7.6p                             7.0p
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Earnings per share
Earnings per share 
(basic)          (2)  18.13p                              9.78p
Earnings per share 
(diluted)         (2)  17.84p                             9.64p
Adjusted basic 
earnings 
per share         (2)  23.17p                            18.79p
--------------------------------------------------------------------


Statement of total recognised gains & losses

For the year ended 31 December 2000
                                                   -------------------- --------
                                                            2000          1999
                                                   -------------------- --------
                                                            £000          £000
----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------
Profit for the financial year                              21,207        11,366
Currency translation differences on foreign                 1,156         3,377
currency net investments
----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------
Total gains and losses recognised relating to the          22,363        14,743
financial year
----------------------------------------------------------------------- --------





Consolidated cash flow statement

For the year ended 31 December 2000
                                                    -------------------- -------
                                                             2000         1999
                                                    -------------------- -------
                                              Notes           £000         £000
------------------------------------------------------------ ----------
--------Cash inflow from operating activities             3        46,474      
30,727
Return on investments and servicing of                     (8,563)      (4,057)
finance
Taxation                                                  (10,991)      (8,970)
Net capital expenditure                                    (6,584)      (8,273)
Acquisitions and disposals                                (32,226)     (55,315)
Merger expenses paid                                             -      (2,506)
Equity dividends paid                                      (8,433)      (7,526)
----------------------------------------------------------- --------
-----------Cash outflow before financing                             (20,323)   
 (55,920)
Financing                                                   16,044       55,987
----------------------------------------------------------- --------
-----------(Decrease)/increase in cash in the year                    (4,279)   
       67
----------------------------------------------------------- -------- -----------





Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net debt

For the year ended 31 December 2000
                                                   -------------------- --------
                                                            2000          1999
                                                   -------------------- --------
                                            Notes           £000          £000
------------------------------------------------------------- --------
---------(Decrease)/increase in cash in the year                   (4,279)      
    67
Cash inflow from increase in debt financing              (16,388)      (55,268)
------------------------------------------------------------- --------
---------Change in net debt resulting from cash                   (20,667)     
(55,201)
flows
------------------------------------------------------------ --------
----------Reclassification of debt                                        -     
 (3,500)
Translation differences                                      626         3,060
------------------------------------------------------------- --------
---------Movements in net debt in the year                        (20,041)     
(55,641)
Net debt at the start of the year                4       (91,340)      (35,699)
------------------------------------------------------------ --------
----------Net debt at the end of the year                  4      (111,381)     
(91,340)
------------------------------------------------------------ -------- ----------





Consolidated balance sheet

At 31 December 2000
                                                        ---------------- -------
                                                              2000        1999
                                                        ---------------- -------
                                                              £000        £000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------F
ixed assets
Intangible assets                                           131,166      98,810
Tangible assets                                              16,095      13,273
Investments                                                   3,434       1,042
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
                                                            150,695     113,125
Current assets
Stocks and work in progress                                   7,648       6,284
Debtors                                                      69,743      44,940
Cash at bank and in hand                                      3,047       5,096
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             80,438      56,320
Current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year            (134,620)   (106,010)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net current liabilities                                    (54,182)    (49,690)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total assets less net current liabilities                    96,513      63,435
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year   (109,565)    (91,119)
Provisions for liabilities and charges                        (674)     (1,275)
Minority interests                                            (218)        (44)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net liabilities                                            (13,944)    (29,003)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital                                     11,800      11,696
Share premium account                                       66,933      65,409
Special reserve                                                  2          12
Other reserve                                               37,398      37,398
Profit & loss account                                     (130,077)   (143,518)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deficit on shareholders' funds - equity                    (13,944)    (29,003)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------




NOTES

1. Segmental Analysis

Operating profit in the segmental analysis excludes the amortisation of
goodwill and exceptional items.


      ----------------------------- ------------------------------ -------------
                               Turnover    Underlying operating   Profit/(loss) 
                                                 profit/(loss)   before interest
                            2000      1999        2000      1999    2000   1999
                      -------------- ------------- --------------- ------------ 
                           £000      £000        £000      £000    £000   £000
----------------------- -------------- ------------- --------------- -----------
Analysis by market
sector
Telecoms, and Media       74,693    47,464      18,195     9,633  17,136  6,724
Maritime, Trade and       55,278    42,578       7,282     8,967   5,867  6,909
Transport
Financial and             53,235    44,044       8,047     7,044   6,456  5,130
Insurance
Law and Tax               56,526    51,573       6,905     6,132   6,250  4,023
Commodities and           32,064    26,502       4,190     2,920   3,163  1,185
Energy
Biomedical and            19,724    14,753       2,574     1,103   2,467    412
Pharmaceutical
Other                      5,472       859       (382)     (119)   (428)  (119)
----------------------- -------------- ------------- --------------- -----------
                         296,992   227,773      46,811    35,680  40,911 24,264
----------------------- -------------- ------------- --------------- -----------
Interest was incurred centrally and cannot be attributed to individual
markets. Underlying operating profit is exclusive of goodwill amortisation.



2. Earnings and adjusted earnings per share

In order to show results from operating activities on a comparable basis, an
adjusted earnings per share has been calculated which excludes amortisation of
goodwill and exceptional items.


                                                     ------------------- -------
                                                              2000        1999
                                                     ------------------- -------
                                                              £000        £000
------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------
Profit for the financial year - basic and diluted            21,207      11,366
earnings
Amortisation of goodwill                                      5,900       2,313
Net effect of exceptional items                                   -       8,150
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
------Adjusted earnings                                            27,107     
21,829
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
------Weighted average number of equity shares
- for basic and adjusted earnings                       116,996,711 116,167,982
Effect of dilutive share options                          1,897,334   1,728,586
Weighted average number of equity shares
- for diluted earnings                                  118,894,045 117,896,568
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----Earnings per equity share                                    18.13p      
9.78p
Diluted earnings per equity share                            17.84p       9.64p
Adjusted basic earnings per equity share                     23.17p      18.79p
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----





3. Reconciliation of operating profit to net cash inflow from operating
activities


                                                      ------------------ -------
                                                              2000        1999
                                                      ------------------ -------
                                                              £000        £000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----Operating profit                                             40,911     
27,680
Amortisation of goodwill                                      5,900       2,313
Depreciation charges                                          4,304       3,197
Loss on sale of tangible fixed assets                            27          28
(Increase)/decrease in stocks                               (1,356)          89
Increase in debtors                                        (20,549)     (7,902)
Increase in creditors                                        17,274       5,137
Other operating items                                          (37)         185
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
----Net cash inflow from operating activities                    46,474     
30,727
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----




4. Analysis of net debt
                         ------------------ ------------------ -----------------
                        At 1 January      Cashflow      Exchange         At 31
                                 2000                   movement   December 2000
                         ------------------ ------------------ -----------------
                                £000          £000          £000          £000
---------------------------------- ------------------ -------------------
------Cash at bank and in hand        5,096       (2,094)            45        
3,047
Overdrafts                      (801)       (2,185)             -       (2,986)
Debt due within one year      (6,505)           38              -       (6,467)
Debt due after one year      (89,130)      (16,426)           581     (104,975)
---------------------------------- ------------------ -------------------
------Total                        (91,340)      (20,667)           626    
(111,381)
---------------------------------- ------------------ ------------------- ------


5. Basis of preparation and statutory information

The financial information set out above on pages 7 to 11 does not constitute
the Group's statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2000 or 1999.
The financial information for 1999 is derived from the audited statutory
accounts for 1999 which have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The
financial information for 2000 is derived from the audited statutory accounts
for 2000 which were approved by the Board of Directors on 6 March 2001, and
will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the Company's Annual
General Meeting. Copies of the statutory accounts for 2000 will be posted to
shareholders on 12 March 2001.

The statutory accounts were prepared on a going concern basis under the
historical cost convention and in accordance with all applicable current UK
accounting standards.

-ends-