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NürnbergMesse grows to a new revenue dimension

• Revenue tops 200 million euros, profit seven million euros
• Momentum for 2011

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NürnbergMesse has an appreciable leap in revenue and profit to show in the year ending 2010: "With respect to the more comparable year 2008, our revenue has increased by 30 per cent to over 200 million euros and profit has exploded to more than seven million euros, also a record level," says Bernd A. Diederichs, Managing Director of NürnbergMesse. The group has thus clearly exceeded its own forecasts made in the summer of this year.

NürnbergMesse boss Bernd A. Diederichs doesn't look like a marathon runner, but the company started its ambitious growth programme in the mid 1990s. "We were unknown, small and sneered at by the competition," Diederichs recalls. This sneer was wiped off their faces over the years. "Exhibition centres like Cologne, Hanover and Berlin are now noticing our hot breath." The revenue of NürnbergMesse has increased five-fold since 1997 and now tops 200 million euros for the first time. This makes the company the fastest-growing exhibition company in Europe. But growth alone is not everything for the Nürnberg exhibition manager. "The substance created in the process is much more important. This substance is growing continuously and also proves to be exceptionally robust at times of crisis," says Diederichs with 2009 in mind, which NürnbergMesse mastered without serious damage.

Almost all segments of NürnbergMesse contributed to the rise in revenue and profit in the current year in relation to the more comparable year 2008:

  • Own and partner events: up 23% to some 86 million euros
  • Exhibition Services: up 80% to 47 million euros
  • International: up 90% to 18 million euros
  • Guest events: up 10% to 39 million euros

The only drop is shown by the CCN CongressCenter Nürnberg, where revenue has fallen by 20 % to ten million euros. "But this is due solely to the fact that one of our three congress centres was not available for half of the year due to the large building site for the new Mitte (central) area. This segment will, however, be a source of much pleasure in the coming years and continue to grow," Diederichs is convinced.

Internationality ensures successful events

This year, more than 29,000 exhibitors (2008: 27,128) and around 1.47 million visitors (2008: 1.26) took part in the 157 events (2008:173) in the portfolio of the NürnbergMesse Group in Germany and abroad.  "Especially the continuing growth of internationality has secured the success of our events in Nürnberg this year," says Diederichs. For the first time, more than 10,000 international exhibiting companies were present at the own, partner and guest events in the NürnbergMesse Group's portfolio. "We are taking this development into account and consistently backing more internationalization in two respects: at the Nürnberg location and for our worldwide events," says Diederichs, setting the course.

In view of the dynamic development of NürnbergMesse, the number of employees has risen appreciably this year: whereas an average of 329 persons were employed throughout the concern in 2009, the figure in 2010 is some 440, including 52 apprentices, trainees and students at the university of cooperative education.

NürnbergMesse starts 2011 with momentum

Diederichs expects more growth of the exhibitions in the global portfolio in the coming financial year 2011. "We start with momentum," says Diederichs with an eye on the good registration levels. The NürnbergMesse Group will organize altogether 30 international exhibitions in the coming year, of which two-thirds are outside Nürnberg. The BRIC countries Brazil, Russia, India and China are the most strongly represented with 18 exhibitions. The contracts from federal and state governments for organizing industry pavilions at international exhibitions are also at a high level, and Diederichs expects 35 to 40 contracts.

New events in the exhibition and congress programme at the Nürnberg location in 2011 include FeuerTRUTZ, the Trade Fair with Congress for Preventive Fire Protection, and HOSPITAL BUILD EUROPE has been obtained as a new guest event. The exhibition and congress covers the whole segment of hospital construction and operation. A well-known touring event also makes a stop in Nürnberg in 2011: INTERGEO, the conference and trade fair for geodesy, geoinformation and land management.

The international portfolio of the NürnbergMesse Group has two exhibition premieres and a new organization contract to show, which focus on India: fensterbau/frontale india makes its debut in New Delhi parallel to ACREX INDIA, which NürnbergMesse is supporting in 2011 as international marketing partner and organizing company. Chillventa Rossija in Moscow also celebrates its premiere as an exhibition following the successful congress event.

As the odd years in the NürnbergMesse Group are still weaker, Diederichs assumes a revenue of over 160 million euros for the NürnbergMesse Group in 2011, following 132 million euros in the more comparable year 2009.

New direction for investments

NürnbergMesse has invested more than 150 million euros in the site and its products in the last five years. The completed redesign of the Mitte (central) area alone accounted for 47 million of this. New priorities are to be assigned to the investment volume planned for the period from 2011 to 2015. "No more new halls are on the agenda. We will therefore increasingly work on reducing the investment backlog on the existing site and optimizing our logistics so that we can raise our hall turnover rate to 15 or more in the long term. At the same time, we will continue to purchase exhibitions and exhibition organizers. However, these investments cannot be planned in terms of either time or the absolute amount," says Diederichs. NürnbergMesse purchased 100 per cent of the present NürnbergMesse Brasil and the art fair europe in 2009 and entered into a 50-per-cent partnership with the exhibition construction services provider Holtmann in 2010.

Company Info

NürnbergMesse

Messezentrum 1
90471 Nürnberg
Germany

Telephone: 0911 86060

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