Time Out Group sets out Time Out Market expansion plan: Time Out is to appeal the refusal of a food market licence in Spitalfields whilst looking for another site in London. The company stated: “The performance of the market in Lisbon has again been excellent, and ahead of expectations, with a record 1.7 million visitors in the first half and top ratings on review sites, contributing to a 59% revenue growth year-on-year and strong levels of profitability under the leadership of Time Out Market chief executive officer Didier Souillat. The group is on track to roll out Time Out Market globally. Time Out Market Miami is expected to open in 2018. In Porto a final planning decision is expected this autumn and if successful the market will open in the second half of 2018.In the USA , a lease for a site in a second major US city is close to completion. As appropriate planning is already approved, it is expected that this market could open in the first half 2019. In London, with the support of the landlord, the company intends to appeal the declined planning permission in respect of the site in Spitalfields; if planning for the site is granted and runs to timetable it is expected that the site would open in late 2019 or early 2020; meanwhile the group continues to explore other possible sites in London. The group continues to consider proposals for new locations in other cities around the world.” Julio Bruno, chief executive of Time Out Group, said: “We have seen good progress across Time Out Group’s two business divisions and its key strategic areas during the period. Time Out Digital continues to deliver significant revenue growth, driven by e-commerce and Premium Profiles (business listings) and was the focus of on-going investment. Time Out Market’s success continues with its first market in Lisbon generating £2.6 million of revenue in the first half, proving the strength of the format. Our growing global network of owned and operated businesses and investment in our platform and product offering provide further growth and monetisation opportunities as we continue to inspire millions of people to make the very best of cities around the world. Time Out now is the only true global marketplace for city life. Looking forward, trading remains in-line with our expectations for the full year. As in previous years, revenue will be weighted to the second half and our operating leverage, combined with the global realignment of Time Out Digital and the continued success of Time Out Market, is expected to substantially improve our operating margin.” Revenue grew 13% to £18.7m in the First Half whilst adjusted Ebitda loss increased by £4.6m to £9.4m “as expected”. Operating loss was £15.6m (2016: £7.3m) reflecting continued investment in Time Out Digital.

Vianet report trading ahead in First Half: Vianet Group, the international provider of actionable data and business insight has reported trading for the first half of the current financial year is ahead of the same period last year with the growth in line with the board’s expectations. As such, the board intends to declare a maintained interim dividend of 1.7 pence per share. The company stated: “The Smart Machines division continues to deliver growth and to extend its penetration into the European market and this is demonstrated through a growth in connected devices. We are focussed on optimising the earnings visibility and have made good progress with increasing the proportion of recurring revenue as a percentage of new sales. Whilst our Smart Zones division customers in the pub sector continue to face well publicised headwinds, our core beer flow monitoring operation maintained its contribution, and encouragingly the rate of pub closures in the sector appears to have slowed down.” James Dickson, chairman, said: “The team continue to make good commercial progress and are increasingly demonstrating that our strategy of delivering highly relevant solutions that drive strong returns for our customers is the right one. Given the group’s positive progress and encouraging prospects the board is confident of continued growth.”