What Is Informa: A Global Events and Publishing Group

Informa PLC is a large British company that operates in academic publishing, business-to-business events, and digital services. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Informa reported revenue of roughly £4 billion in 2025, making it one of the biggest events and information companies in the world. If you’ve attended a major trade show, read an academic journal, or encountered a professional conference in your industry, there’s a good chance Informa was behind it.

What Informa Actually Does

Informa sits at the intersection of knowledge and commerce. Its business model centers on connecting professionals, whether that means publishing research that academics and scientists rely on, organizing trade shows where companies buy and sell products, or running digital platforms that help technology vendors reach new customers. The company is headquartered in the United Kingdom and operates globally across dozens of industries.

Rather than functioning as a single unit, Informa is organized into several distinct divisions, each focused on a different market. The major ones are Taylor & Francis (academic publishing), Informa Markets (trade shows and exhibitions), Informa Connect (professional events and training), Informa Festivals (large-scale consumer and industry festivals), and Informa TechTarget (B2B digital marketing services for tech companies).

Taylor & Francis: Academic Publishing

Taylor & Francis is Informa’s academic publishing arm and one of the largest scholarly publishers in the world. It publishes around 2,500 peer-reviewed journals under imprints including Routledge and Dove Medical Press, with more than 5 million articles available on its online platform. These journals span the sciences, humanities, social sciences, and medicine.

If you’ve ever accessed a research paper through a university library or paid for an article through a publisher’s website, you may have been reading a Taylor & Francis publication. The division also offers open access publishing: over 350 of its journals are fully open access, and 97% of its journals give authors the option to make individual articles freely available. Routledge, one of its best-known imprints, is particularly prominent in the humanities and social sciences and publishes thousands of academic books each year.

Informa Markets: Trade Shows and Exhibitions

Informa Markets is the division most people encounter without realizing it. It runs hundreds of major trade shows and exhibitions each year across industries ranging from construction and agriculture to beauty, boating, and natural products. These events bring together buyers, sellers, and industry decision-makers in a single venue to showcase products, negotiate deals, and spot trends.

Some well-known events in the Informa Markets portfolio include Natural Products Expo West (one of the largest natural and organic food trade shows), World of Concrete (a major construction industry event), the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, and the Farm Progress Show. Events span multiple continents, with a significant presence in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Informa Connect, Festivals, and TechTarget

Beyond publishing and trade shows, Informa operates three other divisions that round out its portfolio. Informa Connect organizes professional conferences, networking events, and training programs. These tend to be smaller and more specialized than the massive trade exhibitions, often targeting specific professional communities like finance, life sciences, or food service.

Informa Festivals focuses on large-scale events that blend industry business with broader cultural engagement. These operate at a different scale and energy level than traditional conferences.

Informa TechTarget is a specialist digital services business that helps technology vendors find and reach potential customers. If you work in enterprise technology, this division operates websites and platforms designed to connect IT buyers with the vendors selling solutions they’re researching. It generates revenue through digital advertising, lead generation, and intent-based marketing data.

How Big Is Informa?

Informa reported £4.04 billion in revenue for 2025, up from £3.55 billion in 2024. That growth reflects the company’s expansion through both organic growth and acquisitions. The TechTarget division, for example, was added through acquisition and expanded Informa’s digital services capabilities significantly.

The company is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, which means its shares are available to institutional and individual investors. It is incorporated in the United Kingdom under the Companies Act 2006. In terms of scale, Informa competes with other major events and information companies globally, and its portfolio of brands touches millions of professionals, researchers, and businesses every year.

Why You Might Encounter Informa

Most people come across Informa in one of three ways. Researchers and students encounter it through Taylor & Francis journals and Routledge books. Business professionals encounter it by attending one of its trade shows or industry conferences. And technology marketers or IT buyers encounter it through TechTarget’s digital platforms and content sites.

Because Informa operates under so many brand names, you may have interacted with the company many times without recognizing the parent organization. The trade show you attended, the journal article you cited, or the tech content site you browsed could all trace back to the same London-listed company with a £4 billion revenue base.