ITE Group says Turkey attacks, India note ban hurt bookings

REUTERS - Exhibition organiser ITE Group Plc said on Thursday the unrest in Turkey and the scrapping of high-value banknotes in India could affect some planned events but added it was comfortable with the market revenue expectations for the year.

ITE shares fell as much as 6 percent in early trade on Thursday. They were down 4 percent at 160 pence at 0901 GMT.

The company, which organises exhibitions and conferences, said the attacks in Turkey hurt its international events bookings in the key region, its second biggest revenue earner after Russia.

ITE said it could also cancel or postpone a number of events in India in sectors including real estate, fashion and construction, due to uncertainty following the scrapping of high-value currency notes.

Investec analysts downgraded ITE stock to "hold" from "add", citing continued uncertainty in some of its key markets.

ITE said revenue for the three months ended Dec. 31 rose to 35 million pounds from 34.8 million pounds a year earlier. Like-for-like revenue was down 4 percent due to weakness in its Central Asia market and lower oil prices during the period.

Group revenue booked for the full year as of Jan. 20, was at 99 million pounds ($125 million), representing about 72 percent of market expectations for the full year. Revenue booked for 2017 rose about 2 percent on a like-for-like basis.

($1 = 0.7918 pounds)

(Reporting by Sanjeeban Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri and Gopakumar Warrier)