Weekly Newsletter
Hong Kong, 21st March: Earlier this week, Hong Kong-listed Sino Splendid (formerly China.com) announced its full year financial results for the year ended 31st December 2017. The company reported revenues of US$12 million in the year, down 7.1% year-on-year. Sino Splendid also posted a large net loss of US$23 million in 2017.
Read MoreSingapore, 5th March: International exhibition organiser, UBM, will launch a new technology event, ConnecTechAsia, running from 26th to 28th June 2018 at two venues in Singapore, Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Suntec Singapore.
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Read MoreKuala Lumpur, 8th March: Organised by UBM Malaysia, the Malaysian International Furniture Fair (MIFF) featured 622 exhibitors, an increase of 13% over last year’s edition.
Positioned as the largest international furniture fair in the Southeast Asia, MIFF 2018 took place from 8th to 11th March. The fair was held in two separate venues. It occupied a total of 18 halls in the new Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) and it also filled the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), covering a gross exhibition area of 100,000 m2.
Shanghai, 7th March: Last week, VNU Exhibitions Asia and the Italian Exhibition Group (IEG) agreed to form a new joint venture, Europe Asia Global Link Exhibitions (EAGLE) in order to develop trade show businesses in both China and Italy.
The new JV will develop IEG’s business interests in Asia particularly in the wellness, green technology, hospitality and tourism sectors; while VNU Exhibitions Asia will have additional opportunities to develop its commercial relationships with the leading companies in Asia under the terms of the JV.
Australia, 15th March: The Australian government has established a new programme, the Boosting Business Events Bid Fund with initial financing of A$12 million (US$9.4 million). The fund is designed to attract more global conferences, conventions and exhibitions to Australia over the next three years.
The program will be managed by Tourism Australia through its Business Events Australia unit. It is Australia’s first federal government-funded business events bidding fund and it will be tasked with providing financial support to help secure events in across Australia. The fund will begin accepting applications on 1st May.
Indonesia, 15th March: Earlier this week, Alibaba Cloud, a subsidiary of the China’s largest e-commerce company, the Alibaba Group, announced the launch its first data center in Indonesia. The centre aims to serve the small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia with reliable, scalable cloud services.
The new data center will offer cloud services ranging from “elastic computing” and database management to networking and security. Alibaba has expanded its business in Indonesia in recent years. The company acquired a minority share in e-commerce player, Tokopedia, last August. In addition, Alibaba’s financial service company, Ant Financial, has teamed up with Emtek, a media conglomerate, to launch digital payments services in Indonesia. Finally, Alibaba also has a majority stake in Singapore-based e-commerce platform Lazada which also operates in Indonesia.
Beijing, 13th March: Baidu, the leading search engine in China, announced that it will merge its mapping unit, Baidu Maps, with its artificial intelligence (AI) division, AI Technology Platform System. The move is part of Baidu’s overall strategic focus on expanding its business beyond its traditional search and advertising revenue streams.
The restructuring also aims to improve the popular mapping service by consolidating and coordinating resources with its AI technology. Baidu’s management stated that it plans to develop high definition-maps, a technology used in autonomous driving.
Bangkok, 9th March: Last week, Pico Thailand, the Thai-listed subsidiary of Pico Far East Holdings, released its financial results for the quarter ended 31st January 2018. Revenues in the quarter were US$13 million, which represents an increase of 67% compared with the same quarter last year.
Pico Thailand posted a net profit of US$468,000 in the quarter, compared with a net loss of US$222,000 the same period in 2017. Earnings per share in the quarter were Baht 0.067 (US$0.0022).
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 2018)
Kuala Lumpur, March: Last week, UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, held the 13th edition of its UFI Asia-Pacific Conference in Kuala Lumpur, attracting more than 280 delegates from 20 countries and regions.
Read MoreTokyo, 20th February: GL Events, global event services company, announced that the company will establish a presence in Japan reflecting its increasing strategic focus on Japan as well as the Asia Pacific region.
Read MoreSydney, 20th February: After opening in December 2016, the International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) has reported an estimated economic impact in New South Wales of A$785 million (US$614 million) during its first year of operations.
Read MoreShanghai, 5th March: MAD Event Management, a U.S.-based event organiser, announced that the company has entered into an agreement with CPIT Shanghai Exhibition Company Limited to develop and organise world-class events in Shanghai.
Read MoreHong Kong, 5th March: The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) concluded its two jewellery shows earlier this month, featuring a record number of buyers – approximately 87,000 visitors from 145 countries and regions. This represents a 2% increase over last year’s event.
Read MoreJakarta, 28th February: Tarsus Group, an international B2B media group, announced that its subsidiary, Tarsus Indonesia, will launch the Indonesia Fintech Show (IFS) 2018. The new event will run from 5th to 7th December 2018.
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Read MoreLondon, 28th February: This week, UBM Plc announced its annual results for the year ended 31st December 2017. The company reported revenues of £1.0 billion (US$1.4 billion), an increase of 16% year-on-year. Adjusted operating profits increased by 25% to £294 million (US$397 million).
Revenues from annual events were £781 million (US$1.05 billion), representing an adjusted underlying growth of 5.3%. While biennial events in 2017 generated revenues of £86 million (US$116 million), up 3.7% compared to the biennial events in 2015. Management attributed the growth in the annual events to strong growth in Asia. Growth from launches and at Allworld events was also cited. The growth at biennial events in part as due to the inclusion of revenue from Allworld’s biennial events, HOFEX and Food & Hotel Indonesia.
London, 28th February: London-based Tarsus Group, also announced its year-end results for 2017 this week. The group reported revenues of £118 million (US$159 million) – up 35% compared with the results in 2015. In 2017, the company recorded 53% growth of adjusted profit before tax compared with 2015, reaching £40 million (US$55 million). Key highlights include 7% visitor growth across the group’s portfolio and recently completed acquisitions of Connect, Hometex and Intex.
In Asia, total revenues in 2017 were £23 million (US$32 million), up from £9.4 million (US$13 million) recorded in 2015. In China, the newly acquired Hometex and Intex shows both performed well, while the biennial Labelexpo Asia recorded strong growth. In South East Asia, where Tarsus’ portfolio performed well, especially the IIICE (Infrastructure) event in Indonesia.
Hong Kong, 23rd February: Last week, Mega Expo, formerly known as Kenfair, a Hong Kong-based exhibition organiser, reported its interim results for the six months ended on 31st December 2017. The company reported revenues of US$9.4 million, down by 20% year-on-year. However, Mega Expo posted a net profit of US$5.8 million in the six-month period, compared with a loss of US$1.5 million in the previous year. Earnings per share for the half year were HK$0.0328 (US$0.0042).
More than 75% of Mega Expo’s revenues were generated from its exhibition organising business, amounting US$7.1 million. This represents a decrease of 40% year-on-year. The remaining revenues were generated through its brand management services (US$2.2 million).
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