Profits for Penton Boosted by Expo
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 5/29/2006
The growth of Natural Products Expo West and the acquisition of two shows helped boost Penton Media's first-quarter results, despite negative show rotation, the company reported.
Penton's $17.4 million in event revenue represented a 5.3-percent increase over the $16.5 million generated in the first quarter of 2005, in spite of the shift of two Tech Conference events and the Natl. Convenience Store Advisory Group conference and expo to the second quarter this year.
The loss of $1.6 million in revenue from the timing shift was offset by revenue gains from the 25-year-old Natural Products Expo, as well as the addition of the recently acquired MSD2D and Kosher World Conference & Expo. Rolling Kosher World into the Natural Products Expo and renaming it the World Ethnic Market section accounted for some of that show's growth.
While Penton's event revenue increased, lower advertising and subscription sales caused publishing revenue to decline to $31.8 million, from $32.7 million in 2005. However, advertisers shifting their business to online vehicles helped revenue in that category increase to $5.1 million, up 24 percent from the previous year's $4.1 million.
Overall, Penton's first-quarter revenue of $54.3 million was up 1.8 percent from $53.3 million in the year-ago quarter. The Cleveland-based company reported net income of $5.5 million, up from $1.8 million in the same period of 2005.
