Bombed-out business education and training specialist ILX, a one-time Growth Company Investor recommendation at 117p, has seen its share price continue to head south on fears the slowing economy will hit training budgets.

However, a pre-close update suggests ILX is weathering turbulence in the financial sector rather well. ILX said it enjoyed revenue growth ‘across the group’ during the first half-year to September – results are out next month.

Revenues were ‘in line’ with last year at Corporate Training Group (CTG), the division exposed to the under-fire financial sector, despite severe turmoil in global money markets. CTG, which provides instructor-led training and workshops to investment banks, is also running the rule over ‘opportunities’ that might boost its ability to offer training on a global scale to bigger clients.

ILX’s Best Practice arm, providing computer-based training, e-learning and implementation consultancy to the project management, IT and business finance sectors, continued to grab market share and reap the benefits of the robustness of the key PRINCE2 and ITIL markets.

‘Despite strong trading so far,’ says indefatigable CEO Ken Scott, ‘we are very aware that the current business climate is one of considerable uncertainty.’ He insists, however, that the group’s varied customer base will help ILX navigate its way through choppy waters.

Forecasts for the year to March 2009 suggest a pre-tax profits rise to £1.89m (2008: £1.49m) and growth in EPS to 6.81p (2008: 6.71p). Now trading on a paltry price-to-earnings ratio of 3.5 (and offering a yield of more than 6%), ILX looks oversold, although woes in the financial sector remain a concern. If you’ve yet to exit, you’ll gain little by crystallising losses now. Sit tight and wait for a rerating.

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ILX Group	AIM	£4.36m	22.50p	0.00p
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