Alibaba Group revenues up 41%

Hangzhou, 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.

Pico Far East posts record-high 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.

ITE releases trading update

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.

BIEC’s new Hall 5 now open

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.

New senior appointments in Malaysia

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).

dmg events appoints new VP in Asia

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.

GL events surpasses €1 billion in revenues

France, 15th January: GL events, an integrated event industry group, reported its consolidated annual revenues for 2018. For the first time, the Group posted revenues in excess of €1 billion. The company recorded revenues of €1.04 billion (US$1.19 billion) in 2018, representing a 9% year-on-year increase. An adverse exchange rate effect of €34 million (US$39 million) was offset by contributions from new acquisitions. Notably, international markets accounted for 50% of the total.

54% of GL events’ revenues were generated from the GL events Live, amounting to €564 million (US$644 million). The division posted a year-on-year increase of 19%. It second largest division, GL events Venues, posted revenues of €321 million (US$367 million) – or 31% of total revenues. GL events Venues recorded an increase of 4.8% year-on-year. The remaining revenues were attributed to GL events Exhibitions which recorded revenues of €156 million (US$178 million). Although the company was in the weaker part of its biennial cycle, the absence of some biennial revenues was largely offset by the first edition of Global Industrie held in Paris in March 2018.

ASEAN Tourism Forum 2019 held in Vietnam

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, 14th January: The 38th edition of ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) began last week at Han Long Bay in Vietnam. The event ran from 16th to 19th January 2019. More than 70 travel industry players from the ASEAN member states attended the show.

In total, it is expected that more than 1,500 delegates participated in over 100 meetings, forums and social functions. Close to 10,000 one-to-one meetings between exhibitors and buyers were held during the show. ATF TRAVEX was one of the programme highlights held during ATF. ATF TRAVEX was comprised of approximately 75 official sessions as well as a number of post-event tours.

400+ exhibitors at ISPO Beijing

Beijing, 23rd January: Messe München, an international exhibition organiser, held its event, ISPO Beijing and Alpitec China, at the China International Exhibition Center (CIEC) from 16th to 19th January 2019. More than 400 exhibitors representing 682 brands were showcased at the show.

Positioned as one of the most important sports trade fairs in the Asia, the four-day show attracted approximately 30,000 trade visitors. The event featured forums, information on key trends, as well as products focused on a wide range of winter sports, outdoors activities, as well as health & fitness equipment. Football was a new category added this show.

HKTDC’s Fashion Week attracts 13,000 buyers

Hong Kong, 17th January: The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) concluded the 50th edition of its Hong Kong Fashion Week for Fall/Winter last week attracting nearly 13,000 buyers from 78 countries and regions.

The Fashion Week ran from 14th to 17th January at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). The HKTDC maintains that this is the largest fair of its kind in Asia. The four-day fair featured some 1,400 exhibitors from 11 countries and regions.

Tarsus releases year-end trading update

London, 14th January: Tarsus Group, an international B2B media group, released an update on its financial year ending 31st December 2018. Management noted that the company continues to make progress on its “Quickening The Pace” strategy.

According to Tarsus, like-for-like revenues are expected to increase by 9% last year. Visitor/buyer growth across its portfolio was approximately 10%. During the year, Tarsus launched 19 brands replications including six new Connnect events as well as the first edition of Labelexpo Southeast Asia. Tarsus also completed six acquisitions last year. Total like-for-like bookings for 2019 are up more than 10%.