RELX’s exhibitions business up 30% in 2023

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London, 15th February: Yesterday, the RELX Group, the parent company of RX Global (formerly Reed Exhibitions), released its financial results for the year ended 31st December 2023. Revenue in RELX’s exhibitions business recorded underlying growth of 30% - or £1.1 billion (US$1.4 billion). Adjusted operating profit in the year was £319 million (US$406 million), which doubled the figure of the previous year.

RELX’s group revenue in 2023 was £9.2 billion (US$12 billion), representing an underlying growth of 8%. Adjusted operating profit for the year grew 13%, reaching £3.03 billion (US$3.9 billion).

BOL’s revenues up 12% in 2023

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Bangkok, 13th February: Business Online (BOL), a leading online information service provider in Thailand, has reported its financial results for the year ended 31st December 2023. Revenue for the year was US$23 million, representing year-on-year growth of 12%. BOL’s net profit for the year grew 7.2% reaching US8.4 million. Diluted earnings per share in 2023 was Baht 0.35 (US$0.0103).

More than 92% of BOL’s revenue was generated from its service business, amounting to US$21 million, an increase of 11% year-on-year. The remaining revenue was generated from dividend income (US$1.4 million) and “other income” (US$206,000).

Indonesia offers support to tourism and events

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Indonesia, 13th February: The Indonesian government has announced plans to establish the Indonesia Tourism Fund (ITF) to support the promotion of tourism and “nation branding” through sports, concerts, and business events. Initially, nearly US$130 million will be available through the ITF.

The ITF will be funded and managed from the marketing budget of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (MoTCE). It will also be used to encourage tourism to destinations such as Lake Toba, Borobudur, Mandalika, Labuan Bajo, and Likupang. Beginning in the second half of 2024, the fund will support bids for international major events in Indonesia.

KLCC set for a strong 2024

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Kuala Lumpur, 14th February: The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) announced that it has already reached 65% of its revenue target for the year.

The venue has confirmed bookings for 37 conventions and 50 exhibitions in 2024. The numbers are expected to increase due to more national conferences and exhibitions, as well as short lead-time meetings and events that will be held during the year.

Quick takes

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Two bits on Alibaba

TechCrunch reported that Alibaba is starting to attempt to sell-off “non-core” assets. That is going to be an enormous task. Alibaba has acquired dozens and dozens of big and small businesses over the past 15 years. And interesting, Michael Burry (of “The Big Short”) fame is doubling down on his investment in Alibaba and JD.com.

When events go very wrong…

Tatler Asia, a Hong Kong-based publisher, had a great event planned when football stars, Messi, Beckham and their Inter Miami teammates came to Hong Kong. Then politics, egos and emotions got in the way. Messi sat out the match. 40,000 fans were upset and it snowballed from there. According to the Financial Times, Tatler Asia had anticipated making US$1.6 million from its event, but now faces a US$5.5 million loss.

Sri Lanka goes visa-free

Sri Lanka is the latest Asian country to remove visa requirements to boost arrivals. It will be open to visitors from seven countries: India, China, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan. Sri Lanka had a target of 1.5 million visitors in 2023 which it narrowly missed.

Jaarbeurs sells China portfolio to PE

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Shanghai, 2nd February: Royal Jaarbeurs has sold its 70% stake in VNU Exhibitions Asia Ltd (VNU EA) in China to Advent International, a Palo Alto-based private equity firm. According to BSG’s records, this is the first PE acquisition of a China-only portfolio. This also appears to be Advent’s first investment in the business events sector. The remaining 30% of VNU EA is believed to be held by company founder, David Zhong and other founding investors. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

VNU EA was founded almost 30 years ago and its headquarters remains in Shanghai. The company operates across ten cities in China and hosts over 20 exhibitions and conferences every year. Its flagship event is Pet Fair Asia, which was launched in 1997, now features more than 24,000 exhibiting brands and attracts over 350,000 visitors.

UFI research: exhibitions poised for record growth in 2024

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Paris, 6th February: UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, has released its latest Global Exhibition Barometer research.

According to the survey research, the exhibition industry in most markets around the world fully recovered from the pandemic slump in 2023, with revenues reaching a comparable level to 2019. In addition, the outlook for 2024 is also positive, with revenues expected to grow by 15%.

Messe Düsseldorf China posts strong growth in 2023

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Shanghai, 7th February: According to its management team, Messe Düsseldorf in China recovered in 2023 as its 13 largest trade fairs in China were back at full strength. 2023 marked its busiest and fullest exhibition calendar to date.

In 2023, Messe Düsseldorf in China hosted exhibitions covering a total exhibition space of 776,500 m2, that figure is an increase of 62% higher than the 2019 figure, the pre-pandemic level.

In 2023, a total of 10,047 domestic and international exhibitors participated at Messe Düsseldorf’s trade fairs in China, which is an increase of 29% compared with 2019. The fairs attracted more than 573,000 visitors, up 88%.

Alibaba’s profit falls 77% last quarter of 2023

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Hangzhou, 7th February: Earlier this week, the Alibaba Group, the largest e-commerce company in China, released its results for the quarter ended 31st December 2023. The company reported total revenues of US$37 billion, up 5% year-on-year. That is the good news. The group’s net income, however, dropped 77% year-on-year, down to US$1.5 billion. The company’s management attributed the decrease in profit to significant changes to its equity investments and a write-down of the goodwill value of Youku.

Revenues from Alibaba’s B2B business in China under the Taobao and Tmall Group, primarily generated through 1688.com, were US$747 million, that represents a year-on-year increase of 23%. The international B2B business under the Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, primarily operating through Alibaba.com, generated revenues of US$740 million, which posted an 8% increase over the previous year. B2B revenues accounted for only 4.1% of the group’s total revenues in the quarter.

Quick takes

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Dubai wins 349 event bids in 2023

There is plenty of talk about Saudi Arabia investing a lot of capital into its MICE sector, but this shows just how far ahead the UAE remains. Dubai won a record 349 business event bids in 2023, reflecting a 49% increase in successful bids compared to 2022.

Singapore keeps focused as visitor numbers rebound

The Lion City’s international visitor numbers hit 13.6 million in 2023 – 71% of 2019 arrivals. Accord to the Singapore Tourism Board that figure was within its forecast of between 12 million and 14 million visitors. Tourism receipts were approximately 88% to 94% of 2019 figures.

Indian visa-waivers paying off for Southeast Asia

In recent months, Southeast Asian markets have begun to offer visa-waivers to Chinese and Indian travellers. That strategy has begun to payoff. Indian outbound demand for destinations like Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka have started to increase. Searches for Thailand from India have grown 45% since its visa-waiver came into effect.

GED 2024 theme and key pillars announced

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Paris, 30th January: The 2024 Global Exhibitions Day (GED) will be held on 5th June. Held under the theme, “Exhibitions are catalysts to sustainable futures”, it will be the ninth edition of GED.

This year’s edition stresses four key messages: 1) Exhibitions drive progress; 2) Exhibitions facilitate economic growth; 3) Exhibitions are sustainable; and 4) Exhibitions connect people.

GL events’ revenues post 9% increase in 2023

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Lyon, 25th January: GL events released its preliminary results for the year ended 31st December 2023. It reported revenue growth of 9%, reaching €1.43 billion (US$1.6 billion).

In terms of business sectors, more than 57% of revenues were generated from GL events Live, with revenues of €825 million (US$911 million), down 3% year-on-year. The second largest sector was GL events Venues, generating revenues of €393 million (US$434 million), representing year-on-year growth of 21%. The remaining revenues, €210 million (US$231 million), were generated by GL events Exhibitions, which jumped 51% over the previous year.

VNU Exhibitions launches Horti Agri Next ASIA in 2025

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Bangkok, 1st February: VNU Exhibitions Asia Pacific announced the launch of a trade exhibition for the horticulture and agriculture industries, Horti Agri Next (HAN) ASIA, in 2025.

HAN ASIA will be held from 12th to 14th March 2025, at IMPACT in Bangkok, Thailand, together with VIV Asia 2025. The new show will focus on the latest products, innovations and advances in the fields of horticultural food production, landscaping, controlled environment practices, environmental conservation, arable land planting, harvesting, and processing of crops, land and water resources management, and new enhancing technologies.

Homedecor & Hometextile at CIFF Guangzhou 2024

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Guangzhou, 26th January: Homedecor & Hometextile will take place during the first phase of the 53rd CIFF Guangzhou, running from 18th to 21st March 2024, at the Canton Fair Complex in Pazhou. It is targeted to become the largest industry platform in Asia.

Homedecor & Hometextile will take place at Area D of the Canton Fair Complex, occupying eight exhibition pavilions with an exhibition area of 85,000 m2. About 700 exhibitors will showcase interior products and decorations of complete lighting solutions, art installations paintings, clocks, handicrafts, fountains, glass and ceramic objects, home textiles, curtains, cushions, carpets, synthetic and silk flowers and plants, vases, and household and tableware items.

Quick takes

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Singapore launches MICE Sustainability Certification

The recently-launched Singapore MICE Sustainability Certification, aimed at encouraging the MICE industry to adopt sustainable practices when organizing events, has been developed by SACEOS (Singapore Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers), backed by the support of the Singapore Tourism Board.

Messe Berlin expects to maintain positive performance in 2024

Building on strong results for 2023 with preliminary expected turnover of around €370 million for the fiscal year, Messe Berlin held 110 events in 2023 which were attended by 27,800 exhibitors and attracted more than 1.4 million participants. International business made a positive contribution to the full-year results, especially in Asia – leading to high expectations for the region in 2024.

Pico Far East’s profit up 40% in FY2023

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Hong Kong, 23rd January: Hong Kong-listed Pico Far East Holdings reported its annual results for the year ended 31st October 2023. The company posted revenues of US$681 million, up 17% year-on-year. Pico’s net profit jumped 40% during the year, reaching US$29 million. Diluted earnings per share for the year were HK$0.1839 (US$0.024).

More than 82% of Pico’s revenues (US$564 million) were generated from its exhibition, event & brand activation business, representing year-on-year growth of 20%. Other revenue streams were generated from museum & themed environments (US$51 million), visual branding activation (US$49 million), and meeting architecture activation (US$17 million).