The Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), in a statement approving its 2021 Annual Financial Report, said it is seizing the opportunities offered by the reopening of the trade fair-congress market as it posted a revenue rise of over 28% for 2021 over the previous financial year. IEG added it is maintaining a solid equity structure and reducing net debt.
IEG posted consolidated total revenues of €102.5m as compared with €79.8m 2020 (+28.4%), while EBITDA came in at €21.6m (€1.8m in 2020).
Q4 2021, the group reported, had shown positive operating profitability, even net of extraordinary items.
The Group described the past year as its “most difficult year in its history” and added the pre-tax result of -€1.0m represented an improvement of €16.5m over 2020. There was a reduction in net debt of €23.9m on the 31 December 2020 figure.
The Group reported it has liquid funds in addition to authorised credit facilities that have not been used for a total amount of at least €60m.
Consolidated shareholders' equity at 31 December 2021 came to approximately €93.4m, slightly up on the 31 December 2020 figure, which was €93.1m.
Event cancellations in the first half of 2021 had seen a total impact of €-50.0m (-62.6%), although the second half had seen a “strong restart” in the trade fair and congress sector, IEG noted. Top events held for the Group in the second half of 2021 included Vincenzaoro in September and Ecomondo (October).
New events like the Dubai Muscle Show, organised by the subsidiary HBG Events FZ LLC in Dubai, had had a positive effect and non-recurring events – the ‘One-off’ effect – had resulted in a positive change for €27.5m (+34.4%). There was, however, a ‘calendar effect’ of €-4.2m (-5.3%) due to the absence, compared with 2020, of the three-year event ABTech, held simultaneously to Sigep prior to the pandemic.
The revenues of IEG's 31 events organised in 2021 came to €38.5m, down 27.4% on the previous year, as the organic growth and “restart” effect did not suffice to cover the losses of the events cancelled. Revenues from the events organised in Q4 2021 came to €26.0m, showing clear growth on the results achieved in the same period of the previous year of €7.8m.
Congress Events revenues, including the results deriving from the management of the structures of the Palacongressi of Rimini and the Vicenza Convention Centre (VICC), in 2021, came to €6.9m, showing an increase of €4.3m (+171%) on 2020.
Outlook
The sudden return to extremely high levels of infection, due to the spread of the Omicron variant have changed the scenario expected for the first quarter of 2022, IEG noted. Although no legislation has been introduced to prohibit trade fair-congress activities, following discussions with the main stakeholders involved in the production and distribution chains of the main trade fairs of January and February, the Company decided to postpone the events Vicenza Oro January, TGold, Sigep and Beer & Food Attraction, from the original dates in January or February, to March. The same decision was also announced by our main competitors holding events scheduled for January or the early weeks of February.
March saw the group’s trade fair activities resume and, to date, the events of Sigep, Vicenza Oro January, TGold and VO’Clock have been held with satisfactory results, despite a few inevitable cancellations due to the change in date, in particular for Sigep.
Previously, Dubai hosted the very first edition of the JGT Dubai event, organised as a joint venture with Informa Markets, with results exceeding IEG expectations.
Rimini will finish off March by holding the Beer & Food Attraction, MIR and Enada events; in Vicenza, there will be Abilmente Primavera, confirming that the worsening of Covid at the start of the year, has not, at present, resulted in any cancellation of events.
The Group’s international development also continued during the early months of 2022. The first few days of January saw the closure of the transaction whereby IEG Brasil Eventos purchased the assets for the organisation of the Brazil Trading Fitness Fair, the next edition of which is scheduled for São Paulo, 18-20 November 2022.
In January, a Letter of Intent was signed between IEG’s parent company and Koelnmesse GMBH for the development in a joint venture of the Sigep event in some non-European countries in which Fiera di Colonia organises the major food fair Anuga (Anufood abroad). Under the scope of this relationship, on 16 March, the agreement was signed for the organisation of Sigep China starting 2023, alongside Anufood China in Shenzen. The international development programmes are set to continue over the months to come and penetration strategies of the American, African and Asian markets are currently being researched, IEG reported.
As regards the Ukraine crisis, the Italian Exhibition Group noted it does not operate directly in the countries involved in the conflict or struck by the sanctions applied. The product markets represented by the events organised or hosted by the Group companies are not particularly exposed towards these markets, IEG added.
Italian Exhibition Group S.p.A., is a joint stock company listed on Euronext Milan, and has facilities in Rimini and Vicenza. The company is a leading trade show and conference organiser and is active internationally, including through joint-ventures with global or local organisers, in the United States, United Arab Emirates, China, Mexico, Brazil and India.
