N?rnbergMesse moves into fast lane

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  • 2012: strongest year in the history of the company
  • Management duo presents top figures for revenue and profit
  • Largest international involvement ever at exhibition centre

What a year! The N?rnbergMesse Group achieved by far the strongest financial year in the almost 40-year history of the company in 2012: 236 million euros revenue and a profit of 10.1 million euros. These figures are backed by new records for all key exhibition parameters and in all business fields: just under one million square metres of sold space, more exhibitors than ever before, and the largest ever international involvement – both at the N?rnberg venue and at the worldwide events. The N?rnbergMesse Group expects a good 180 million euros revenue for 2013, a weaker year due to event cycles. The current year thus completely meets the expectations.

Record revenue of 236 million euros in the N?rnbergMesse Group for 2012 – that’s another 15 % more than in the previous record year 2010. But not only the revenue has climbed; the profit has also reached a new record level. 10.1 million euros this time – more than ever before. “And this despite a conservative accounting policy,” says Dr. Roland Fleck, CEO of N?rnbergMesse. “This double record for revenue and profit strengthens N?rnbergMesse for the forthcoming phase of further investment in the future.”

Records in the real economy – in making exhibitions
The records in financial management at N?rnbergMesse in 2012 are accompanied by records in the real economy – in “making exhibitions”: “A thoroughly strong year,” confirms Peter Ottmann, CEO of N?rnbergMesse. The key figures for the N?rnbergMesse Group are also up for 2012 (compared with the previous event). For example, the net booked space rose by 5 % (2010: 946,031 square metres, 2012: 990,718 square metres), the number of exhibitors by 2 % (2010: 28,850, 2012: 29,449), and the number of visitors by 1 % (2010: 1,346,356, 2012: 1,356,095). One noticeable aspect is the positive development of the international involvement, which has appreciably increased in proportion (stand space plus 10 %, exhibitors plus 9 %, visitors plus 8 %). The share of international exhibitors is meanwhile 39 % over the whole portfolio at the N?rnberg exhibition centre, and as much as 53 % for the international trade fairs in the own and partner events division at the N?rnberg venue. “The international involvement is no one-way street. We want both aspects: to be successful internationally but also make the events at the N?rnberg exhibition centre more and more international,” says Peter Ottmann.

“The workforce of N?rnbergMesse has played a substantial role in achieving these results,” emphasize Fleck and Ottmann. “Our special thanks go to all staff of the N?rnbergMesse Group, who have achieved these record results through their untiring efforts, hard work and great enthusiasm.” In order to keep up with the growth in Germany and abroad, many new colleagues also joined the company in 2012, so that at the end of last year the N?rnbergMesse Group had 545 employees worldwide, over 370 of them at the N?rnberg location.

6th place in Germany for the first time
“N?rnbergMesse has occupied a respectable seventh place in the list of top exhibition centres in Germany for the last one and a half decades. Now we have actually advanced to sixth place for the first time – at least in 2012 – and even to 4th place as far as profit is concerned,” reports Peter Ottmann. Dr. Roland Fleck points out that N?rnberg as the 15th largest city in Germany and with this exhibition ranking not only plays in the league of major exhibition centres, but also of large German metropolises. This applies at international level too. With its performance in 2012, N?rnbergMesse has come a little closer to its strategic goal of joining the top ten exhibition companies in the world. It has at least made it to the world’s “Top 15” in 2012, a particularly strong year for exhibitions. “This is a message that should also reach the people of N?rnberg: N?rnberg is an exhibition and congress city – and one of the really big names!”

A billion euros for the Metropolitan Region
The N?rnberg exhibition organizers are also especially pleased about something else, namely that they have succeeded in bringing other events to N?rnberg in addition to those permanently established in the calendar. “The extent to which we have succeeded in bringing congresses and corporate events to N?rnberg in 2012 takes on a new dimension,” says CEO Dr. Roland Fleck. “This has not only been good for us, but the Metropolitan Region has profited too. Especially large congresses have an extremely positive impact on indirect profitability, that is, what is spent in the city and region in addition to the revenue achieved in the exhibition and convention centre itself. All the events of N?rnbergMesse together provide over a billion euros of economic power in the Metropolitan Region.

2013: DFB National Conference in N?rnberg for the first time
In line with the cycle of events, revenue in 2013 is expected to reach more than 180 million euros. This would be another all-time high for revenue in an odd year.

This year there are a number of events that have taken place or are due to take place for the first time in N?rnberg. These are headed by the DFB National Conference, which will be held in N?rnberg for the first time in the history of German football, or the Automotive Engineering Expo (AEE), an exhibition on car body manufacturing, painting and assembly. The programme for the second half of the year includes the Developer Week, one of the biggest independent Internet developer conferences in Europe, the European Microwave Week and gat/wat, Germany’s largest exhibition and congress for gas and water. “Here we have constantly succeeded in exploiting our great strength, the congenial combination of exhibition and convention areas,” says Dr. Roland Fleck. As the CEO emphasizes, the success of N?rnbergConvention is a visible example of this: “The umbrella brand has presented the convention city of N?rnberg nationally and internationally for just under two years and is obviously making progress, as the successful acquisitions show”.

New hall 3A on schedule
The new hall 3A will make this play area even larger – literally, as Spielwarenmesse (toy fair) in February 2014 will be the first user of the hall, which will be just finished by then. “The topping out ceremony is in July, so we are completely on schedule,” establishes Peter Ottmann, and he and Dr. Roland Fleck are both pleased that they can not only offer another 9,000 square metres to make a total display area of 170,000 square metres, but also set a sensible and extremely attractive urban planning trend with the new hall in the southeast of the exhibition and convention grounds. “The dimensions and design features of the hall are already clearly visible,” says Dr. Fleck, who, like Ottmann, regularly drops in at the building site.

Olympic Sports Centre, opera houses and museums: The London-based Zaha Hadid Architects, which until now have attracted international attention with much-admired designs mainly in the fields of culture and sport, are responsible for the design of the hall. Hall 3A is now the world’s first exhibition hall built to a design by Zaha Hadid.

About the N?rnbergMesse Group
N?rnbergMesse is one of the 20 largest exhibition companies in the world and among the Top Ten in Europe.The portfolio covers some 120 national and international exhibitions and congresses and approx. 40 sponsored pavilions at the N?rnberg location and worldwide.Every year, around 30,000 exhibitors (international share 39 %) and up to 1.4 million visitors (international share of trade visitors 22 %) participate in the own, partner and guest events of the N?rnbergMesse Group, which is present with subsidiaries in China, North America, Brazil, Italy and now in India too.The group also has a network of approx. 50 representatives operating in some 100 countries.