Meorient’s revenues and profits down in Q3

Hangzhou, 23rd October: Meorient, a Shenzhen-listed exhibition organiser, has announced its financial results for the quarter ended 30th September 2020. The group’s revenues were US$6.6 million, down 51% year-on-year. The company’s net profit in the quarter fell 66%, down to just US$481,000.

The company also reported its financial results for the nine months ended 30th September. Revenues in the nine-month period were US$9.3 million, a decrease of 76% year-on-year. Meorient recorded a net loss of US$7.5 million compared with a profit of US$3.7 million in the same period in 2019.

ICC Sydney generates economic impact of US$362m

Sydney, 26th October: International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) has released its Annual Performance Review for the financial year 2019/20. According to it report, the venue generated A$510 million (US$362 million) in direct expenditure for New South Wales (NSW). This was down from A$896 million (US$629 million) in the previous year.

A total of over 70,000 international visitors generated 73% of the venue’s total expenditure, amounting to A$375 million (US$266 million) which also contributed to the more than 981,000 overnight stays in Sydney. According to the report, the venue created more than 2,800 local jobs during the year.

Netsun’s revenues drop 31% in Q3

Hangzhou, 28th October: Zhejiang Netsun, a Chinese B2B online platform, recently announced its financial results for the quarter ended 30th September 2020. Netsun generated revenues of US$13 million in the third quarter, a decrease of 31% compared with the same quarter last year. Net income in the quarter was also down falling 52% to US$886,000.

For the nine months ended 30th September, Shenzhen-listed Netsun reported revenues of US$35 million, down 20% compared to the same period in 2019. Net income was also significantly down posting a decrease of 37%, amounting to US$2.8 million. Netsun’s earnings per share for the nine-month period were RMB 0.08 (US$0.012).

Quick takes

MCH shareholders approve Murdoch investment

The MCH Group has reached a settlement with one of its major shareholders, Erhard Lee, who objected to MCH’s tentative agreement to accept an investment from James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems. Now that the deal has been confirmed, Lupa will eventually own between 30% and 44% depending on the participation of existing shareholders.

Cathay Pacific makes moves to survive pandemic

Nearly all of Cathay Dragon’s 5,900 staff lost their jobs this week as part of Cathay’s restructuring in its attempt to survive the pandemic. Such developments are worth monitoring because the state of the airline industry (as well as hotels) will have a direct impact on recovery of business events in Asia.

Japan to allow some business visitors entry without quarantine

Beginning in November, Japan is planning to allow short-term business visitors from some 30 countries to entry the country without undergoing a quarantine period. Visitors will need to submit a negative COVID-19 test result, provide their itinerary and avoid using public transport.

Ant Group’s IPO sends clear message

The Ant Group’s IPO will raise US$34.5 billion making it the largest IPO in history. The dual listing will raise an equal amount in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Jack Ma, who owns one third of the business, seems to be sending a clear message about his view of Shanghai’s future as a global financial centre. It is also somewhat of a vote of confidence in the outlook of Hong Kong.

Quick takes

Revenue at Reed Exhibitions down 70%

RELX announced this week that revenues from its exhibition business fell 70% in the first nine months of the year. The full year loss from exhibitions is expected to be between £170 million and £210 million. On the plus side, exhibitions account for just 5% of RELX’s revenues.

Alibaba buys stake in Chinese supermarket

The Alibaba Group does so many deals that is it often easy to overlook them – even deals worth US$3.6 billion.

Nancy Walsh shares views on digital fashion platform

Informa Market’s Nancy Walsh provides some interesting details and statistics on the launch of their digital platform for Coterie.

Chinese hotel occupancy nearly at pre-pandemic levels

A good, long-ish article from McKinsey on the impressive rebound of domestic travel in China. A mostly optimistic, encouraging story.

UFI and Explori publish Global Recovery Insights report

London/Paris, 20th October: Earlier this week, UFI, the Global Association of Exhibition Industry, and Explori, a live events research specialist, published the first edition of the “Global Recovery Insights 2020” report.

Insights were gathered from more than 9,000 respondents in 30 countries. Unsurprisingly, both visitors and exhibitors prefer live events. The respondents maintain that the social aspect of events cannot be effectively replicated by digital events.

Other conclusions included the clear, strong preference for exhibitor and visitor quality over quantity. In terms of budget, although funds allocated to live events have been put on hold, marketing budgets have yet to record severe cuts.

TCEB unveils its plan for 2021

Thailand, 7th October: Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has unveiled its operational plan for the fiscal year 2021 (October 2020 – September 2021), with the core aim of lifting the Thai MICE industry out of crisis, while strengthening the sustainability fundamentals of the industry.

The plan, named “New Normal MICE – Sustainable Growth,” features four strategic elements: 1) Promoting the domestic MICE industry, 2) Harnessing innovation, 3) Attracting international events, and 4) Further developing the MICE ecosystem.

SIAL China draws 2,200+ exhibitors

Shanghai, 20th October: Comexposium offers a further bit of good news this week. One of the company’s flagship events in China, SIAL China, was held in Shanghai at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) (NECC) running from 28th to 30th September 2020. SIAL China featured more than 2,200 exhibitors. Occupying an exhibition area of 100,000 m2, SIAL China 2020 attracted more than 60,000 visitors.

Since Chinese exhibitions restarted in June, Comexposium has also organised Interfiliere Shenzhen, the China National Food Expo (Jinan), China (Nanjing) International Wine & Food Fair, and China Stationery Fair (CSF).

Hong Kong and Singapore to establish travel bubble

Hong Kong/Singapore, 15th October: Last week, the Hong Kong and Singapore governments reached an in-principle agreement to establish a “bilateral Air Travel Bubble (ATB), providing a safe and progressive way for reviving cross-border air travel between the two aviation hubs.” The specific launch date and other essential details have yet to be announced.

The key features of the ATB include:

a)      No restrictions on the purpose of travel;

b)     Travellers will be subject to mutually recognised COVID-19 tests and need to have negative test results;

c)      Travellers will not be subject to any quarantine or “Stay-Home Notice” requirements, and there are no controls on the traveller’s itinerary;

d)     Travellers will be required to travel on dedicated flights. In other words, these flights will only serve ATB travellers and no transit passengers or non-ATB travellers will be allowed on board;

e) The ATB traveller numbers can be increased by adjusting the number of dedicated flights upwards or downwards, or even suspended, in-line with the latest COVID-19 developments in the two cities.

Share price movement in B2B media companies involved in Asia

Figure 1: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement over past 12 months)

Figure 2: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement since January 2020)

Quick takes

U.S. may blacklist Ant Group

In a further step to politicise technology, the Trump administration may blacklist Jack Ma’s fintech giant, Ant Group. In a further blow to the company, Chinese regulators have delayed the IPO in China.

HKTDC reschedules January toy fair

In the first of what is certain to be many announcements like this, the HKTDC pushes it first show of 2021 from January to April.

Macau’s Golden Week numbers plummet

Despite China, Macau and Hong Kong having the spread of COVID-19 well under control, borders between the territories remain tightly closed. As a result, visitors to Macau fell by 90% during the Golden Week holiday.

Two thought-provoking articles on the future of events

Marco Giberti looks at big tech and virtual events, while Rafat Ali thinks that the event industry is having a “Napster moment.”

UFI Global Congress moves to digital-only format

Paris, 13th October: UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, has announced this year’s Global Congress will be a digital-only event, running from 16th to 19th November. The theme of this year’s event is “Resilience”. Originally, the association had planned to organise smaller, regional versions of its annual event in addition to a digital platform. However, on-going travel restrictions and quarantine requirements in many countries made travel too challenging for many delegates.

UFI maintains that speakers at its Global Congress will deliver world-class content and bring the industry together to network, meet and share experiences. Digital programming will be set for regional time slots in Asia/Pacific, Europe/Middle East/Africa, and the Americas, so that participants can connect and follow live from their own time zone, as well as review other sessions on-demand. In addition, participants can also use the platform to network with peers around the world before, during and after the congress.

Malaysia’s major cities lockdown

Malaysia, 13th October: Earlier this week, the Malaysian cities of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor and Sabah were placed under a conditional movement control order (CMCO) until 27th October to prevent further spreading of COVID-19. This is a significant step back for Malaysia which has handled the pandemic quite effectively.

On 6th October, Malaysia recorded 691 new COVID-19 infections, which was said to be a new high for the country. As of 12th October, Malaysia has reported over 16,200 cumulative cases, with slightly more than 5,000 active cases.

SPH records a US$60m loss

Singapore, 13th October: Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH), a Singaporean media company, has recently released its financial results for the year ended 31st August 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company posted a net loss of S$83.7 million (US$61.6 million), compared with a net profit of S$213.2 million (US$156.9 million) last year.

Revenues in the year fell by 9.8%, down to S$865.7 million (US$637.1 million). SPH’s media business generated revenues of S$445.1 million (US$327.6 million), down nearly 23% year-on-year. The decrease was mainly due to the decline in revenue from newspaper print ads, which fell by 33%.

Tarsus buys out its Chinese JV partner

London/China, 12th October: Tarsus Group, a global B2B media company, has announced plans to acquire the remaining stake in Hubei Tarsus Hope held by its Chinese joint venture partner.

Tarsus first acquired a stake in Hubei Hope Exhibition in 2008. At the time, it was a 50/50 joint venture. The JV organises B2B exhibitions in second and third tier cities in central and western China – including the Chengdu Dental Show and the Zhejiang Medical and Dental Show.

Quick takes

Alibaba to disrupt yet another industry

Jack Ma may no longer be a director of the Alibaba Group, but he is continuing to push the e-commerce giant into new territory. Alibaba has formed a JV with struggling Swiss group, Dufry, to shake-up duty-free shopping in China’s airports.

90,000 exhibition industry jobs at risk in the U.K.

The industry in the U.K. is lobbying prime minister, Boris Johnson, for support. At least 90,000 exhibition industry jobs will be lost in the coming weeks as the furlough scheme ends. Industry associations have sent an open letter to Johnson.

Comic Con to go ahead in L.A. in December

L.A. Comic Con will be held from 11th to 13th December. Organisers have rented out the entire LA Convention Center in order to maintain social distancing. In 2019, the event (usually held in San Diego) attracted 42,000 attendees. This year, the number will be limited to just 13,500 attendees.