Hyve trades in line following promotion to FTSE 250

Events business Hyve Group told investors on Thursday that it had made a good start to the year and was now trading in line with management expectations following its promotion to the FTSE 250.

For the three months ended 31 December 2019, Hyve's revenues were up 7% on a like-for-like basis - reflecting strong trading from events that had received investment, most notably Africa Oil Week and Yugagro.

Hyve also noted that as a result of the recent transformation of the group, the first quarter was now set to be "a relatively small quarter" from a revenue perspective.

The firm recently acquired Shoptalk and Groceryshop - two US-based market-leading events focused on e-commerce in the retail, grocery and consumer packaged goods industries - and said the benefits of strengthening and diversifying its portfolio could also be seen from continued growth in forward bookings, which were up 3% at £187m.

"Despite uncertainty both economically and geopolitically across many of our markets, we remain confident in achieving our full-year expectations," noted Hyve.

As of 0825 GMT, Hyve shares were down 3.18% at 103.60p.