Trade exhibition organiser ITE buys stake in Moscow-based auto events
By Noor Zainab Hussain
(Reuters) - ITE Group Plc , a trade exhibition and conference organiser, said it teamed up with trade fair organiser Messe Frankfurt to buy Moscow-based trade events for vehicles - Comtrans and Autotrans.
The 50:50 joint venture will be named ITEMF Expo AO, ITE said in a statement on its website on Monday.
"It has been said that ITE tends to exit Russian crises in a stronger commercial position... We are certainly intrigued that ITE is acquiring assets in Russia at this time and welcome the sense-check that sees the company investing for the post-crisis period," Peel Hunt analyst Malcolm Morgan said in a note.
Morgan believes ITE will pay about 4 million pounds ($6 million) for its 50 percent stake.
Chief Executive Russell Taylor told Reuters in October that there would be less incentive to develop the business further within Russia.
ITE, which received about 59 percent of its revenue from Russia in 2014, said in January that trading conditions in Russia had deteriorated over November and December, hurting its international and domestic exhibitors.
Shares in the company were marginally up at 149.25 pence at 0942 GMT on the London Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)
