N?rnbergMesse Group achieves new record revenue
2012: N?rnbergMesse excels – record revenue in all divisions
2013: N?rnbergMesse grows – founding of Indian subsidiary
Until 2017: N?rnbergMesse invests – 140 million euros in programme and site
“The N?rnbergMesse Group will close 2012 with a record revenue level of some 220 million euros. All divisions will set new records, which makes the strongest financial year ever in our company history an even more brilliant achievement,” emphasize Dr. Roland Fleck and Peter Ottmann, Managing Directors of N?rnbergMesse. With group revenue up by some 7 per cent over 2010, a more comparable year in terms of the event programme, the managing directors expect the annual financial statement to show a profit that will more than compensate for the loss in the financial year 2011. The coming year 2013, with a lower volume of business due to event cycles in the odd years, is geared mainly to the Indian subcontinent for N?rnbergMesse, because N?rnbergMesse India PVT Ltd., the group’s fifth subsidiary abroad, will be founded in New Delhi in spring next year.

2012 as a year of records is a source of pleasure for the managing directors of N?rnbergMesse in many respects. Also bearing in mind that the year now drawing to a close is the exhibition company’s first full year of business with Peter Ottmann and Dr. Roland Fleck at the helm. “This success is a team success. We are very proud of the achievements of our colleagues,” both of them sum up. In 2012 N?rnbergMesse has the largest group revenue to show since it was founded, its revenue is growing in all divisions and it hires out the most net space – to mention only a few of the superlatives of the N?rnberg company.

Of the altogether 169 exhibitions, congresses, public events and company events in the N?rnbergMesse Group’s portfolio for 2012, particularly the new record for net space sold leads to the largest annual revenue in the history of the company: approx. 29,400 exhibitors (2010: 28,850) with a net space of more than 984,000 m? (2010: 946,031 m?) and some 1.36 million visitors (2010: 1.35 million). A decisive factor for this year’s development is the significant increase in the international shares. The number of international visitors rose by eight per cent to 215,000, and the share of international exhibitors also climbed by eight per cent to more than 11,300, which accounts for just under 40 per cent of the total number of exhibitors. The international net space rose by nine per cent to 274,000 m?.

Milestones in 2012
But 2012 is not only marked by outstanding figures. For the first time, six new events at once extended the portfolio of the N?rnbergMesse Group. In addition to two new exhibitions at the N?rnberg location – Enforce Tac and RemaDays – another four new exhibitions took place on other continents: These covered the spectrum from beverage technology (InterBev, USA) and the pet industry (Mexico Pet Expo, Mexico, and PET Rio VET, Brazil) to the automotive industry (FISITA, China). “All the premieres were successful and the events will be continued,” announces Peter Ottmann.

Three of the pillars of the N?rnberg exhibition centre have been secured this year: “First the skeleton agreement with the Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair has been extended until 2021. Second a new contract was concluded with the Biogas Fachverband e. V. (German Biogas Association) for three more BIOGAS exhibitions. Third Wolfgang Marzin, Chief Executive Officer of Messe Frankfurt, confirmed before SPS IPC Drives 2012 that the exhibition will remain in N?rnberg permanently. This is a clear signal to the industry and market and to the exhibition industry,” says Dr. Roland Fleck, N?rnbergMesse boss.

The extension of the contract with Spielwarenmesse eG is linked with the construction of the new hall 3A in the south-east of the exhibition site. This makes three things possible for N?rnbergMesse: the extension of the display space to 170,000 m? in future, the provision of the necessary development potential for large and growth-intensive events like the International Toy Fair, the exhibition duo fensterbau/frontale and HOLZ-HANDWERK, and prospectively SPS IPC Drives too. “At the same time, N?rnbergMesse with the support of Zaha Hadid Architects is setting an architectural milestone for the company and the whole Metropolitan Region,” says Managing Director Peter Ottmann.

Economic slowdown so far largely without impact on the growth of exhibitions
Some of the international exhibitions at N?rnbergMesse take a scheduled break in the coming year. The revenue will accordingly drop to around 180 million euros, which will then be the third best figure after the two record years of 2010 and 2012. Irrespective of this drop in revenue due to the event programme, the exhibitions that take place in 2013 are developing positively. Of the larger exhibitions in the first half-year, the outlook for the European Coatings SHOW is particularly encouraging. Of the smaller events, FeuerTRUTZ stands out with its two-figure growth in the number of exhibitors, and the premiere of the Automotive Engineering Expo AEE in June will extend the automotive cluster in the portfolio of N?rnbergMesse. The Guest Events Division has also acquired many new events for the N?rnberg exhibition and convention centre. These include gat/wat 2013 – gasfachliche und wasserfachliche Aussprachetagung, the exhibition and congress for gas and water, with some 200 exhibitors and about 1,500 exhibition and congress visitors, and the DFB Bundestag, the conference of the highest body in the German Football Association, which takes place every three years and now for the first time in N?rnberg. “This is both a milestone for N?rnbergMesse and a shot at goal for football in the Franconian region,” adds Managing Director Dr. Roland Fleck.

At the international level, an exhibition for automotive engineering and manufacturing will start in Peking. N?rnbergMesse China has already organized the exhibition accompanying the FISITA World Congress in 2012. The World Congress moves on, but the exhibition is to be established permanently in the Chinese market under a new name.

Namaste N?rnbergMesse India!
In line with its corporate strategy, N?rnbergMesse is continuously expanding its international commitment. The accumulated revenue from activities abroad topped the 20 million euros mark for the first time in 2012. Now N?rnbergMesse India will increase the number of international subsidiaries to five in the coming year. “Weare particularly pleased that N?rnbergMesse India will be launched with a decent portfolio of exhibitions,” says Peter Ottmann, who will also act as supervisory board chairman of the newly founded subsidiary. N?rnbergMesse has already organized exhibitions in India since 2009. The current portfolio includes BioFach India, fensterbau/frontale india and Powder & Bulk Solids India. A strategic marketing partnership exists with Paintindia, the leading coatings exhibition in India, and N?rnbergMesse is also active as an event organizer in the Indian market. It has already organized the ACREX India exhibition twice on behalf of the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE).

In terms of purchasing power, India is now the world’s fourth largest economy and is expected to achieve a higher Gross Domestic Product than Germany by 2020. The country has a diversified economic structure, whose growth sectors, like the automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, information technology, mechanical engineering, medical technology, biotechnology, electrical engineering or food processing, generate their demand mainly from the Indian tendency to consumption and investment. In line with the upward trend of the economy, the range of exhibitions in India is varied and has shown constant growth over the past years. Besides exhibitions of predominantly regional significance, there is a variety of international exhibitions. The AUMA exhibition database lists 139 exhibitions in India for 2013, compared with 40 in 2001.

Long-term investment in the N?rnberg exhibition centre
At the same time, N?rnbergMesse focuses on its home base in N?rnberg, where the N?rnbergMesse team produces just under 90 per cent of the total revenue. “Although we are growing at a disproportionately high rate abroad, we will continue to generate the lion’s share of our business in N?rnberg in the future. N?rnbergMesse will therefore also invest strongly in its home location in future,” says Managing Director Dr. Roland Fleck, announcing that some 140 million euros are planned for this purpose in the next five years. This is essentially divided into four key investment areas: “investment in the existing site, investment in the construction of the new hall 3A, investment in new exhibitions, and investment in enlarging our office space,” says Fleck. After all, not only is the revenue growing, but the number of employees too.

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 and Italy.The group also has a network of 47 representatives operating in 98 countries.