Informa, the conferences and events group which is the subject of a £2.15 billion private equity takeover approach, this morning announced a 32 per cent fall in pre-tax profits in the first six months of the year.

While the group said that trading was strong, reporting an 18 per cent rise in revenue to £627.6 million, it said profit fell from £87.8 million last year to £60 million due to high amortisation costs associated with the acquisition of Datamonitor in 2007.

Adjusted profit before taxation increased by 10 per cent to £104.7 million, up from £95.6 million in 2007. Shares rose 6.75p to 424.75p

Informa said that the outlook for the rest of this year is in line with expectations, insisting that the group is well positioned in an economic downturn, highlighting its geographical spread and the fact that 80 per cent of revenues are generated overseas.

While there has been concern about Informa's high debt levels following the Datamonitor acquisition, the company attempted to reassure the market that it is trading comfortably within its banking covenants.

It said that net debt decreased by £25.2 million to £1.22 billion, reflecting cash flow of £42.5 million, adding that it has in place a £1.45 billion five-year unsecured bank loan facility.

It said: "At June 30 2008, both financial covenants were comfortably achieved. The ratio of net debt to EBITDA at June 30 2008 was 4.09 times and, given the strong cash flow of the group, this is expected to drop below 3.75 times by the end of December 2008."

The group will raise its interim dividend by 9 per cent to 6.1p.

Informa also said today that talks with a private equity consortium including Providence Equity Partners, Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman were "continuing", adding that there was no certainty whether an offer would be made.

Meanwhile, Wilmington, the business-to-business publisher behind titles such as journalists' trade magazine Press Gazette, this morning confirmed speculation that it had received a takeover approach, sending its shares up 15 per cent.

It is understood that a private equity group, believed to be Hg Capital, has made a preliminary approach, which the board of Wilmington said "may or may not lead to an offer for the company".

Shares in the group rose 25.25p to 190.25p in early trading.

A bid from Hg Capital, which recently disposed of Boosey & Hawkes, the music publishing business, is likely to be as part of a private equity consortium.

Wilmington's market capitalisation was £136.2 million, based on Friday's closing price of 165p. It is understood that HgCapital will decide in the next few weeks whether to make a formal offer for the publisher.

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