Weekly Newsletter
Nanjing, 1st February: Last week, Focus Technology, the holding company of Made-in-China.com, reported its financial results for the year ended 31st December 2018. Total revenues were US$127 million in the year, which represents a year-on-year decrease of 28%. Net profit for the year recorded a decline of 23% down to US$8.2 million. The diluted earnings per share in 2018 were RMB 0.24 (US$0.035).
Read MoreBangkok, 14th February: Last week, Business Online (BOL), a leading online information service provider in Thailand, announced that it recorded revenues of US$15 million for the year ended 31st December 2018, representing a 12% year-on-year increase. BOL’s net profit jumped 36% reaching US$3.2 million. Diluted earnings per share in 2018 were Baht 0.13 (US$0.0039).
Read MoreLondon, 21st February: Yesterday, the RELX Group (formerly Reed Elsevier) released its financial results for the year ended 31st December 2018. Total revenues were £7.5 billion (US$9.5 billion), representing an underlying increase of 4%. Adjusted operating profit increased by 6% to £2.3 billion (US$3.0 billion).
Read MoreAustralia, 18th February: Tourism Australia’s Business Events Bid Fund Programme (BFP) has reportedly doubled the value of business events secured in Australia in the past three months reaching A$187 million (US$134 million).
Read MoreJakarta, 12th February: The Indonesia Motorcycle Show (IMOS), one of the largest motorcycles shows in Indonesia, has been acquired by Comexposium. The acquisition is expected to be officially completed in the first quarter of 2019. No financial details were released. IMOS will be organised by Seven Event, a joint venture between Comexposium and Amara Pameran Internasional (API).
Read MoreChina, 18th February: Earlier this week, international exhibition organiser, Messe Düsseldorf, announced management changes. Marius Berlemann will become the General Manager of Messe Düsseldorf Shanghai Limited and Bastian Mingers will serve as the Global Head of Wine & Spirits (including the ProWein trade fair portfolio). Both new roles are effective as of 1st April 2019.
Read MoreShare price movement
Read MoreTokyo, 31st January: Messe Frankfurt, an international exhibition organiser, will launch a new childcare and education trade fair in Japan, Child Edu & Care Japan. It will run from 7th to 8th June 2019 at the Shinjuku NS Building in Tokyo.
Read MoreParis, 5th February: Earlier this month, UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, released its latest biannual, Global Barometer Survey, designed to assess the state of global trade show industry. All four global regions in the survey (Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East-Africa) reported an expected increase in organiser revenues.
Read MoreSingapore, 1st February: The Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre has announced that in 2018, the venue hosted more than 1,600 events. In addition, in 2019, Suntec will host 88 major annual events.
Read MoreKuala Lumpur, 31st January: According to the venue in 2018, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) created an economic impact of more than RM 888 million (US$218 million) for the Malaysian economy. The venue also attracted a total of almost 2.2 million visitors.
Read MoreSingapore, 31st January: The Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS) has released an official statement on the official appointment of its new president, Mr. Aloysius Arlando, effective immediately. Arlando replaces Janet Tan-Collis who successfully led SACEOS for several years.
Read MoreSingapore, 12th February: Earlier this week, MP International, part of the Pico Group, announced that the company has acquired “a significant stake” in the FUTR Group (formerly Millennial 20/20), a global trends, innovation and summit events business. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Read MoreShare price movement
Read MoreHangzhou, 29th & 30th January: Earlier this week, the Alibaba Group, the largest e-commerce company in China, announced its results for the quarter ended 31st December 2018. The company reported total revenues of US$17 billion, up 41% year-on-year. The group’s net income grew 37% reaching US$4.8 billion.
Revenues from Alibaba’s China B2B business, primarily generated through 1688.com, were US$392 million. This represents an increase of 40% over the same quarter last year. The company’s international B2B business, primarily operating through Alibaba.com, generated revenues of US$361 million. That is growth of 31% year-on-year. In total, Alibaba’s B2B revenues for the quarter accounted for just 4.2% of the Group’s overall revenues.
Hong Kong, 28th January: Hong Kong-listed Pico Far East reported its annual results for the year ended 31st October 2018. The company posted record-high revenues of US$590 million, up 16% year-on-year. However, the company’s net profit dropped 3.5% during the year down to US$35 million. Diluted earnings per share for the year were HK$0.2198 (US$0.028).
More than 82% of Pico’s revenues were generated from its exhibition & event marketing services amounting to US$487 million. This represents year-on-year growth of 20%. The remaining revenues were generated from its visual branding and experiences business (US$47 million), its museum, themed environment, interior & retail business generated US$46 million, and its conference & show management business recorded US$11 million.
London, 24th January: Last week, London-based ITE Group plc published its trading update covering the quarter from 1st October to 31st December 2018. The results were reportedly in line with expectations.
Revenues in the quarter were approximately £31.5 million (US$40 million), representing a significant decline from last year’s figure of £40.7 million (US$52 million). The company attributed the decrease to a smaller biennial quarter and the fact that ITE has divested from its non-core events in Russia. ITE’s net debt was about £108 million (US$137 million) as of 31st December 2018.
Bengaluru, 30th January: The Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) has officially opened its newly built Exhibition Hall 5 adding 17,000 m2 of capacity to the venue. The venue now has a total capacity of 77,000 m2 making it the largest exhibition venue in India.
According to BIEC, IMTEX 2019, an event serving the machine tool and manufacturing industry, is the first exhibition to use the new hall. The additional capacity will also allow BIEC to host larger-scale industrial exhibitions and a wide variety of other MICE events.
Malaysia, 24th & 28th January: In Malaysia, UBM Malaysia and the Malaysian Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) have recently appointed new senior managers.
UBM Malaysia announced the appointment of Gerard Leeuwenburgh as the Country General Manager effective 2nd January 2019. He has been in the MICE industry for over 25 years and has worked for leadership roles in various organisations including dmg events and VNU Exhibitions. In this new role, Gerard is responsible for the overall UBM portfolio in Malaysia. He succeeds Alun Jones who will leave the company by 31st January 2019. Gerard reports to Ian Roberts, Regional Executive Director of ASEAN for UBM.
Meanwhile, MACEOS appointed Ms. Ho Yoke Ping as its new Executive Director effective 1st January 2019. She has served in various roles in the MICE industry for more than 20 years. Prior joining MACEOS, Ping was General Manager of the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB).
Asia, 15th January: dmg events, an international events and data group, announced the appointment of Mel Shah as Vice President of its operations in Asia.
Shah’s has 20 years of experience in the energy, digital, manufacturing, food and hospitality sectors in Asia. He has been responsible for developing key business units for various event organisations. In the new position, Shah will be responsible for growing dmg events’ portfolio across all of Asia.
Business 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.
