Informa plans to sell data business

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London, 7th December: In a surprise move, Informa PLC announced that it plans to sell its data and research unit, Informa Intelligence. The proposed sale of the group’s fastest growing business would return £1 billion to shareholders at some point in 2022 via a special dividend and share buybacks.

The remaining proceeds will be used to fund investments in its events and academic publishing business. It is reasonable to assume that Informa’s management currently sees the data business as overvalued and the events business as particularly undervalued because of the ongoing global pandemic.

UFI outlines five trends for 2022

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Paris, 6th December: In what has become somewhat of an annual tradition, UFI CEO, Kai Hattendorf, has published his list of five key trends for the year ahead. In his outlook, Hattendorf rightfully points out that these are “in between times.”

The five trends that he identifies for 2022 are as follows:

1.     Customer retention

2.     Climate change and carbon reductions

3.     Data & digital debate

4.     A new staffing narrative

5.     Tipping points.

Alibaba plans re-organisation

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Hangzhou, 6th December: It has been a bumpy year for Alibaba. Perhaps in an effort to reinvent itself and start anew, the Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant has now announced plans to reorganise its international and domestic e-commerce platforms.

International digital commerce will bring together Alibaba’s overseas consumer-facing and wholesale businesses. The business unit will include AliExpress, Alibaba.com, and Lazada. It will be managed by Fan Jiang, president of Taobao and Tmall. Alibaba reportedly has more than 285 million registered users outside China.

China digital commerce will feature its China consumer-facing and wholesale marketplaces. It will be managed by Trudy Dai, president of industrial eCommerce and community eCommerce. She has been with the company since its founding in 1999.

Events return to Melbourne

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Melbourne, 12th December: Positive news from Australia. The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) is once again allowed to host large-scale, in-person events as restrictions have been eased.

MCEC will host two B2C exhibitions this weekend. The Oz Comic Con Homegrown is expected to attract 7,500 delegates and the One Fine Baby Expo (held at the same time) will feature some 5,000 visitors per day. All events at MCEC will be held under the venue’s “COVIDsafe” protocol.

Quick takes

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UFI panel debates data ownership

In the final edition of UFI Connects in 2021, Paul Woodward led a stellar panel discussion focused on one of the hottest topics in the exhibition industry today. Merilyne Davies, Global Director of Privacy at RX and Sinead Davies, Head of Legal EMEA at Informa Markets and several others debate: Who owns the data and what is the data opportunity?

Hong Kong remains in difficult position

In what passes for good news these days, Hong Kong will give priority to business travellers going to Guangdong province when border crossings between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland reopen. The numbers are not defined, but there will be a daily quota and it is meant to begin in late December.

New tech expo launched in Macau

Beyond Expo, a new information technology exhibition, was launched earlier this month in Macau. It reportedly featured more than 300 exhibitors. The visitors must have been local since the borders in Macau remain essentially closed.

Quick takes

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Singapore hosts largest expo since COVID began

Understandably, there were quite a few health & safety measures in place, but despite that Constellar organised Singapore’s largest in-person exhibition since the pandemic stopped events in March 2020. The Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific 2021 (ITAP) reportedly attracted 5,000 delegates.

Dubai Airport reports trade visitors up 50%

More good news! Tarsus Group’s massive Dubai Airshow pulled in 104,000 “visitors, delegations, senior industry executives and media.” The organiser reported that trade visitor numbers were up by 50% compared with 2019.

 

China in midst of a sea change

There is a lot going on in China. A crackdown on tech and the education sector. The upcoming Winter Olympics. A possible meltdown in property sector. Closed borders. Slowing economic growth. And add to that The Economist thinks the Omicron variant will hit China particularly hard.

 

Comexposium launches digital marketplace

French global event organiser,Comexposium exited bankruptcy protection in October. Now the group has announced plans to launch CXMP, a new B2B marketplace focused on food, fashion and sport.

Global Sources organises physical event in Hong Kong

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Hong Kong, November: In late October, Global Sources hosted its first physical event since the beginning of the pandemic. The Fall 2021 Show Series ran from 25th to 27th October 2021 at the AsiaWorld-Expo (AWE) with more than 5,340 buyers attending the 8-in-1 show.

Fall 2021 Show Series featured some 1,000 suppliers, showcasing over 20,000 products and services. The 8-in-1 show included: Global Sources Consumer Electronics, Global Sources Electronic Components, Global Sources Mobile Electronics, Global Sources Smart Home & Appliances, Global Sources Home & Kitchen, Global Sources Tech Gifts, Global Sources Lifestyle and Global Sources Fashion.

Inaugural property expo held in Hong Kong

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Hong Kong, 26th November: Last week, COMASIA Limited, a Hong Kong-based exhibition organiser, launched its first property management services exhibition. According to the organiser, the International Property Management & Procurement Expo (PROPEX) attracted more than 8,000 industry professionals.

The inaugural edition of PROPEX was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) running from 4th to 6th November 2021. A total of 216 exhibitor companies occupied over 350 exhibition booths. Category coverage included property management products and services, refuse and waste recycling management, security control and surveillance systems, cleaning and pest control, car park management and access control systems and club house management.

Macau hosts 71 events in Q3

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Macau, 26th November: Last week, Macau’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) reported its MICE statistics for the quarter ended 30th September 2021. Despite the ongoing pandemic, Macau held a total of 71 MICE events in the quarter which is three events more than the same quarter in 2020. The total number of participants and attendees rose an impressive 24% in the quarter, reaching a total of 226,000.

Of the total 71 events, 57 were meetings and conferences – one event less than the same quarter last year. However, the total number of participants at meetings and conferences grew 84% to 7,000 participants.

In addition, 13 exhibitions were held – three exhibitions more than the previous year. The number of attendees declined 23%, down to 219,000 attendees. The total gross area occupied by these exhibitions was 67,000 m2, a year-on-year increase of 69%.

Ungerboeck acquires Priava

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Sydney, 30th November: Ungerboeck, an event management software provider, has acquired Priava, a cloud-based venue and event management system provider. No financial details of the acquisition were disclosed. Priava has a reasonably strong footprint in Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. which should complement Ungerboeck’s portfolio of services and its client base.

Through this acquisition, Ungerboeck will expand its international presence. Founded in 1985, Ungerboeck is headquartered in the U.S., with offices in Germany, France, Mexico, England, Australia, New Zealand, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Ungerboeck offers its event and venue management software in over 50 countries. Founded in 1997, Priava, is headquartered in Sydney with additional offices in the U.K., the U.S., New Zealand and India.

Alibaba’s revenues up, but disappoints analysts

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Hangzhou, 18th November: Last week, the Alibaba Group released its financial results for the quarter ended 30th September 2021. The company recorded total revenues of US$31.1 billion, up 29% year-on-year. However, net income dropped 81% in the same quarter, down to US$833 million.

Revenues from Alibaba’s B2B business in China, primarily generated through 1688.com, were US$648 million, an increase of 15% year-on-year. Revenues from its international B2B business, primarily operating through Alibaba.com, jumped 34%, reaching US$732 million.

Informa Markets’ pharma event opens in India

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Delhi, 24th November: India is getting back on track and events are beginning to gain traction. This week Informa Markets in India opened the 14th edition of its CPhI & P-MEC India, a leading pharma event in South Asia. The event featured 534 exhibitors from 16 countries, and expected to attract over 20,000 visitors.

The three-day show ran from 24th to 26th November 2021 at India Expo Centre, Greater Noida, Delhi – NCR. Conference tracks addressed the challenges and future opportunities of the pharmaceutical industry in India.

Australia looks optimistically to 2022

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Australia, 24th November: According to the Melbourne Convention Bureau’s (MCB) 2020/21 Annual Report, the bureau has secured more than 40 new business events worth US$108 million in the past year. A total of 118 business events will be held in Melbourne from 2022 to 2028. The events are expected to attract over 133,000 delegates and filling more than 387,000 hotel room nights across the city. The events will generate an estimated US$579 million for the state of Victoria.

Separately, Western Australia’s (WA) official convention bureau, Business Events Perth, has secured 67 new business events which will be held from 2022 to 2024, generating US$39 million of direct expenditure. A total of 108 business events are scheduled to be held in Western Australia until 2024 which will fill more than 200,000 hotel room nights.

ASM Global opens Asian headquarters

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Singapore, 23rd November: ASM Global, a global venue management company, announced plans to open a new headquarters in Singapore in order to better manage and expand its presence in the region.

The Asia-Pacific headquarters will have a joint leadership structure. Paul Sergeant, Executive Vice-President of Operations, and the newly appointed Executive Vice-President of Venue Development, Ed Sanderson together will lead the group in Asia. Ed Sanderson was most recently based in Bangkok where he was on a senior advisor at Populous, an architecture and design firm focused on venues.

Quick takes

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Singapore opens a bit more

The Lion City is pushing ahead with its “living with COVID” strategy. Starting on 29th November there will be a “vaccinated travel lane” (VTL) for Indians visiting Singapore. The only requirement is a negative test taken within two days prior to the flight and a negative on-arrival PCR test.

Heavy impact of COVID on business travel

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) offers some numbers and insight into the devastating impact of COVID on business travel in Asia. The region’s “lagging border re-openings” will not help matters in 2022.

Hyve opens its wallet for specialist organiser

It is good to see some M&A activity in the events market. The Hyve Group has agreed to acquire the 121 Group for between US$55 million and US$67 million. 121 Group is a specialty event organiser focused on the mining sector in Asia as well as other regions and founding partner, Toby Duckworth, is based in Hong Kong.

Manila ponders reopening borders

The Philippine government apparently has approved a plan to allow in fully vaccinated visitors from low-risk countries according to the Department of Tourism (DOT). There is not much detail on this plan, but we live in hope.

Quick takes

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Hong Kong Sevens delayed for 5th time

How bad are things for event organisers in Hong Kong? The Hong Kong Rugby Union announced this week that the iconic Hong Kong Sevens tournament will be delayed for a fifth time until November 2022.

 

Another own-goal for Hong Kong

More disappointing news out of Hong Kong – although not media or event related. Air cargo shipping is one of the few industries that has been booming during the pandemic. Given that, it is especially bad news that Hong Kong’s over-the-top COVID restrictions have managed to force FedEx to leave the city behind as a key Asian hub.

 

Eddie Choi talks content and virtual events

On a more positive note, the always interesting Eddie Choi finds some silver linings in the pandemic and discusses lessons learned.

 

Alibaba leads consortium bid for chipmaker

It is potentially a good investment. It is also potentially a way for Jack Ma to get out of Beijing’s bad books. Whatever the reason, Alibaba’s consortium is the lead bidder for an US$8 billion deal to bailout Tsinghua Unigroup.

 

Partial lockdown in the Netherlands, events still going

Rotterdam hosted UFI’s annual Global Congress earlier this month. Now the Dutch government as announced a partial lockdown in the face of surging infection numbers. On the plus side, RAI Amsterdam says the measures will have minimal impact on its events calendar.