Cruise & Ferry Show & Trading

Informa Group PLC
8 May 2001



                                                                 Tuesday 8 May



Informa invited a number of shareholders to its bi-annual Cruise + Ferry
Exhibition at Olympia on Tuesday 8 May.

They announced at the Exhibition the following statement:

'Our business is trading in line with expectations for the year to date with
growth being seen in all six sectors. In particular we are seeing strong
performances from Pharmaceuticals and Finance and a welcome recovery in
Maritime profits. The Cruise + Ferry Exhibition has attracted a record number
of exhibitors (450), with revenues up 24% on last time.

'The change in sentiment this year in the mobile telecommunications industry
has had a predictable impact in reducing delegate numbers at some of our
smaller events for that market. We are managing the cost base of our business
to take account of lower rates of growth in telecoms. Our larger established
events continue to perform strongly. The 3GSM event in February saw profit
growth of 35% over 2000 and the June Bluetooth Congress is expected to be 20%
more profitable than last year.'

Our acquisitions earlier this year of MCM and BioTechniques are performing
well.

We remain on track for a satisfactory performance



For further information

Peter Rigby       Chairman, Informa Group                     020 7453 2222

David Gilbertson  Chief Executive, Informa Group              020 7453 2222

Jim Wilkinson     Finance Director, Informa Group             020 7453 2222

Fiona Piper       The Maitland Consultancy                    020 7379 5151