14 November 2017

Ascential plc

Capital Markets Event and Trading Update

Ascential plc (LSE: ASCL.L), the global business-to-business information company is hosting a capital markets event in London this afternoon. 

The event will be hosted by Duncan Painter, CEO, and Mandy Gradden, CFO, and will include presentations from key members of management covering a deep dive into MediaLink and Money20/20 as well as plans for the 2018 edition of Cannes Lions.  No material new information will be provided and the presentations will be available on the Ascential website from 2pm GMT.

Last night, Cannes Lions launched the 2018 edition of the Festival to its key stakeholders and the trade press.  This launch outlined initiatives to reinforce the core creativity purpose of the Festival particularly with young creatives; a reorganisation of award categories to better reflect the industry's current ways of working; innovations in the award entry rules to increase the variety of Lion-winning work; and a streamlining of content to allow the Festival to take place over five days.  Furthermore, we were pleased to announce that the City of Cannes has worked with local hotels and businesses to craft attractive offers for Cannes Lions delegates.  The response from Cannes Lions stakeholders to this refreshed format has been encouraging.

Due to proximity of this capital markets event to the year end, Ascential today confirms that the Group is trading in line with its expectations, with the USA edition of Money20/20 held in October recording another strong performance.

About Ascential

Ascential is a global business-to-business information company that informs and connects the business world in 150 countries through market-leading Exhibitions & Festivals and Information Services.  Ascential powers the prestigious Cannes Lions festival for the branded communications industry, the world's premier payments and financial services congress Money20/20, Spring Fair/Autumn Fair, the global trend forecasting service WGSN, environmental risk data business Groundsure, e-commerce analytics provider One Click Retail and MediaLink, the strategic advisory and business services firm.  Ascential's premium products enable focus, growth and value.  The company provides customers with world class content and connections empowering their businesses to be the best informed and best connected.