ITE Group, a trade exhibition and conference organiser, has said volumes sales in Russia, its biggest market, were running 20 per cent less than this time last year, hurt by the fall in oil prices and a weak rouble.
ITE, which saw about 59 per cent of its revenue coming from Russia in 2014, said it had contracted £85 million pounds of revenue for the year ending September 2015, using an exchange rate of 95 roubles to a pound.
The rouble fell 29 per cent against the pound during ITE's first quarter ended December 31, while brent crude oil lost 40 per cent during that period.
"There remains very substantial currency and political risk in forecasts, and so the shares will be unattractive to many on fundamental grounds. But the exhibition industry is awash with major deals and ITE, should politics allow, is a prized asset," said Peel Hunt analyst Malcolm Morgan in a note.
ITE said trading conditions in Russia had deteriorated over the past two months, hurting its international and domestic exhibitors.
ITE's total like-for-like trading volumes were 17 per cent lower than this time last year, and like-for-like revenue on a constant currency basis was trailing by 15 per cent, it said.
Kepler Cheuvreux analysts said none of the other large exhibition organisers had exposure to Russia, and they did not see any impact on UBM, Informa or Reed Elsevier.
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