Features
NEC Gets More From The Pie
Given that it’s pretty well doing the same business as it was 12 months ago, Birmingham’s NEC Group has done well to raise its operating profit.
It staged the same number of events as the previous year (762) and ticket sales actually dropped by 100,000 to 3.8 million, but revenues still crept up 1.7 percent to £122.8 million.
Operating profit rose by 2.3 percent to £22.3 million, although two-thirds of Th and the
The arenas and the ticketing business saw their combined operating profit fall 31 percent from £5.6 million to £3.9 million.
The NEC is blaming the drop on the redevelopment of the NIA, which at times has left the venue unavailable.
The Ticket Factory’s dip is being attributed to the investment needed to improve its technology to meet the demands of its new long-term contracts.
The businesses also suffered from not having the major one-off paydays such as the Olympic catering contract or a major parliamentary conference.
Star of the NEC’s show was the exhibition business based at The NEC in Solihull, which had a 9.6 percent jump in operating profit from £31.3 million to £34.3 million. “The exhibition business again delivered solid growth on the back of a strong prior year,” said NEC chief ops officer John Hornby.