EUROPE - Strong growth and rebookings across core show brands has led Centaur’s exhibition division to report 10 per cent underlying revenue growth for its full-year results.
Exhibition revenues were up three per cent to £16.2m for the year to 30 June 2012, with adjusted EBITDA up 13 per cent to £2.6m. When adjusted to reflect the sale of the logistics and supply chain portfolio and the cancellation of the Business Travel Show events in Dusseldorf and Dubai, revenues increased 10 per cent, the company stated.
Business Travel Show Middle East was due to be held in Dubai in October 2011 but was postponed last July. The Dusseldorf edition was held last April and had been due to return to the city this month.
Core exhibitions chalked up underlying revenue growth of 16 per cent over the past 12 months, up one per cent year-on-year. Key contributors included Marketing Week Live, which featured two co-located new brands that contributed to 23 per cent growth across the portfolio in June 2012.
The Employee Benefits Live brand also delivered a 21 per cent increase in revenues and sold out venue capacity last September. In addition, forward bookings for 2013 exhibitions are 16 per cent ahead year-on-year and at 30 June 2012, the company stated.
The full-year results are the first to be released since Centaur restructured its operations into three divisions: Business Publishing, Exhibitions and Business Information. Across the group, revenues reached £65.6m for the full-year, with adjusted pre-tax earnings up 18 per cent to £11.7m. Pre-taxprofits were up 23 per cent to £8m.
Over the past financial year, Centaur reported an 11 per cent drop in publishing revenues offset by an increase in digital revenues and investment into digital products.
Centaur’s financial statement also focused on growth opportunities and synergies from a series of acquisitions in recent months, most recently digital marketing information provider Econsultancy in July. Other purchases include IPL, the Excite show, VBR and Profile.
“This has been a transformational year,” said Centaur chief executive Geoff Wilmot.
“Following last summer’s major restructuring, the principal focus of the management team has been to continue to re-engineer the business and to execute a series of targeted acquisitions designed to accelerate delivery of our strategic objectives.
“We have made excellent progress towards the achievement of our three-year targets and have also reported a strong set of results delivered in difficult economic circumstances. We are seeing good momentum as we head into the newfinancial year.”
Centaur is launching a major hosted buyer-led show for the UK meetings industry at London’s Olympia, 9-11 July 2013.
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