Weekly Newsletter
Hong Kong, 5th May: The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) has launched Hong Kong Start-up Fiesta – a campaign to support and foster the city’s local start-up eco-system and to help new companies capture business opportunities during the pandemic.
Read MoreHong Kong, 11th May: Recently, Hong Kong-listed Sino Splendid (formerly China.com) reported its results for the quarter ended 31st March 2021. Sino Splendid is the owner and operator of the travel media group, TTG.
Read MoreUlsan, Korea, 23rd April: A new convention centre, the Ulsan Exhibition and Convention Center (UECO), opened on 29th April in Ulsan, a city in southwestern Korea, with its inaugural event, the Asia Pacific MICE Business Festival 2021. The event ran from 29th to 30th April.
Read MoreSingapore, 5th May: Singapore-listed newspaper publisher and real estate company, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), has announced that the company will transfer its media business into a not-for-profit entity.
Read MoreFigure 1: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement over past 12 months)
Figure 2: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement since January 2021)
It is hard to find any good news these days. Koelnmesse has announced plans to launch an ASEAN version of Kind + Jugend, a baby and toddler product exhibition. The new event will be held in April 2022 at BITEC in Bangkok.
Singapore is experiencing a minor surge in community-transmitted cases of COVID-19. The government has responded by implementing new restrictions. Capacity at public facilities and social gatherings in Singapore will be reduced between May 8 and 30 along with closures of high-risk facilities such as indoor fitness facilities.
Gaming reviews were up over 1,000% in April 2021 compared with April 2020 (US$1 billion vs. US$94 million), but last month’s gaming revenue is still down 64% compared to April 2019. Meanwhile, Mix Meetings thinks the outlook for business events in Macau is decidedly upbeat.
Shenzhen, 28th April: Messe Frankfurt plans to push ahead with a new event launch in the second half of this year. The China (Shenzhen) Cross Border E-commerce Fair (CBEC) will cover the entire e-commerce supply chain from product selection to platform providers to a range of other support services.
Co-organised by Messe Frankfurt (Shenzhen), China Merchants Exhibition Management (Shenzhen) Company and Beijing Talent-Expo Company, CBEC will be held at Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center running from 16th to 18th September 2021 and is expected to occupy an exhibition space of over 100,000 m2, attracting some 3,000 exhibitors.
Nanjing, 30th April: Also last week, Focus Technology, operator of the B2B sourcing platform Made-in-China.com, reported revenues of US$49 million in the quarter ended 31st March 2021, representing year-on-year growth of 42% compared with the same quarter last year.
The company recorded net profits of US$2.97 million in the quarter, compared with a loss of US$2.86 million in the first quarter of 2020. Diluted earnings per share in the three-month period were RMB 0.06 (RMB 0.0091). The increase in revenues and net profits were attributed to organic growth on the Made-in-China.com platform.
Hangzhou, 29th April: Last week, Shenzhen-listed Zhejiang Netsun announced its results for the year ended 31st December 2020. In the financial year 2020, the company generated revenues of US$58 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.6%.
Net profits in the year grew 5.7%, hitting US$5.7 million. Diluted earnings per share in 2020 were RMB 0.15 (US$0.023). The company attributed the growth to increased income from its chemical trading business and its B2B trading platform.
Figure 1: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement over past 12 months)
Figure 2: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement since January 2021)
Hangzhou, 27th April: Earlier this week, Meorient, one of the few publicly-traded exhibition organisers in China, released its results for the year ended 31st December 2020. Revenues fell 78% year-on-year, down to US$14.5 million. The company recorded a net loss of US$9.9 million in 2020, compared with a net profit of US$9.5 million in 2019.
Read MoreSingapore/Hong Kong, 26th April: After a false start in November last year, the Hong Kong-Singapore air travel bubble (ATB) is back on. The ATB which will allow quarantine-free travel between the two cities, will kick off on 26th May.
Read MoreBangkok, 26th April: Following a new spike in cases in Thailand, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has put a stop to exhibitions. The BMA has issued an order restricting in-person meetings and gatherings to 20 people or less for the next two weeks (until 9th May). The order could be extended beyond that date.
Read MoreWe missed getting together in 2020. In 2021, it will have to be a purely digital affair… but don’t miss out! There are already 70+ delegates registered along with a strong line-up of compelling speakers. Register at: www.ufiasia.org
According to The China Daily, the 129th edition of The Canton Fair ended this week – attracting 26,000 participating companies with 880,000 views of livestreamed programmes and over 35 million visits to the website during the 10-day event. This is the third virtual edition. The previous two did not receive particularly positive reviews from participants. It remains to be seen if this edition was an improvement.
The 2021 Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) was a hybrid event this year, but the physical exhibition appears to have been quite successful. The first physical IIMS since 2019, the event was organised by Dyandra Promosindo and held at JIExpo. The event ran from 15th to 25th April. Visitors were limited to 5,000 per day.
Messe Frankfurt, along with all other organisers, have had to indefinitely postpone events in May as key venues including the Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC) have been converted into COVID-19 care centres and vaccination centres.
Share price movement
Read MoreLondon, 22nd April: Informa’s management is optimistic about 2022, but there are some hard truths in the results released this week and 2021 is clearly being viewed as a transition or recovery year. Barclays Bank is expecting Informa’s events revenue to 51% lower in 2021 compared with 2019. Globally, the group is essentially optimistic about just two markets in 2021: China and the U.S.
Read MoreChina, 19th April: It seems business as usual has very much returned to the market in China. Earlier this week, Reed Sinopharm Exhibitions, a joint venture between Reed Exhibitions and Sinopharm Group, signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in the China Hospital Construction Conference (CHCC). No financial details were disclosed.
Read MoreShanghai, 17th April: Shanghai Lansheng released its financial results for the year ended 31st December 2020. Revenues in the year were US$457 million. This represents a large year-on-year decrease of 45%. Profits in 2020 dropped 56% year-on-year, down to US$21 million. Diluted earnings per share in the year were RMB 0.258 (US$0.040).
Read MoreShenzhen, 13th April: Organised by Adsale Exhibition Services, CHINAPLAS was held at Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center for the first time running from 13th to 16th April 2021. More than 3,600 exhibitors from 50 countries and regions presented their latest products and services for the plastic and rubber industries.
Read MoreNürnbergMesse, 19th April: NürnbergMesse China announced an exclusive partnership agreement with CAR – Center Automotive Research (D+S Automotive GmbH) at the opening of Auto Shanghai 2021 which was held earlier this month.
Read MoreBusiness Strategies Group is the only market intelligence & strategy consulting firm in Asia with a special focus on business media, information and events. Our services include research, market intelligence, mergers and acquisition support and strategy development.
Subscribe to our free brief industry newsletter to receive a weekly update on the latest in B2B media in Asia.
