Messe Düsseldorf
registers high profit

Messe Düsseldorf is the only one of the major German trade fair companies that navigated through the pandemic without the financial support of its shareholders. Now it can recover from the pandemic-related losses of previous years. For 2022 Messe Düsseldorf Group has posted after-tax results of €60.5m. Necessary investments, which were postponed for pandemic reasons, are possible again: Messe Düsseldorf is driving its new business both nationally and internationally and is forging ahead with digital transformation and the modernisation of its premises. Sustainability also ranks high on its agenda.

Düsseldorf, 17 May 2023. Messe Düsseldorf can look back on a successful trade fair year with 63 events worldwide – of these 14 trade fairs and eleven guest events in Düsseldorf alone. This is evidenced by the final accounts for 2022: At €310.9m Messe Düsseldorf Group has posted a strong leap in revenue versus the previous year (€108.7m). The same applies to after-tax profits of €60.5m (previous year: €-22.4m). The revenue of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH amounts to €294.9m (previous year: €96.1m), its after-tax results stand at €71.6m (previous year: €-22.3m). Non-operating special effects amounting to around 20 million euros had a positive impact on the GmbH profit.

Dr. Stephan Keller, Mayor of the state capital Düsseldorf and Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Messe Düsseldorf, delights at the results: “Messe Düsseldorf heralded a strong comeback in 2022. Such high profits achieved in a year when the first months were still hit by pandemic-induced restrictions, testify to the success of MD’s business model, the strength of Düsseldorf’s No. 1 trade fairs, the impact of its corporate strategy and Düsseldorf’s appeal as a trade fair location. The economic engine Messe Düsseldorf is running again bringing prosperity to Düsseldorf and the region.”

“The financial results speak for themselves”
Wolfram N. Diener, President & CEO of Messe Düsseldorf, sees Messe Düsseldorf on the right track: “The financial results speak for themselves: We have taken the necessary measures during the pandemic. In combination with our traditionally solid financial grounding we were the only major German trade company to navigate through the pandemic without financial support.”

The number of events of Messe Düsseldorf Group will continue to rise in 2023 – with 17 trade fairs and nine guest events in Düsseldorf and 43 events abroad. Welcoming this trend Erhard Wienkamp, Managing Director Operational Trade Fair Business, says: “The relevance of trade fairs continues unabated. China is also back – even stronger than before the beginning of the pandemic.” China will host eleven trade fairs in 2023; last year the number was two. Just in April we saw the trade fairs CIOSH for Occupational Safety & Health running in Shanghai as well as CHINAPLAS for plastics in Shenzhen now larger in size than before the pandemic. CIOSH, for example, attracted 47,616 visitors – 32.6% more than in 2021 and 90.4% than in 2019.

Necessary investment
The forecast for the current fiscal year anticipates an even higher turnover for Messe Düsseldorf GmbH at €356.6m. After-tax profits will, however, be lower than in 2022 at €37.9m due to lower non-recurring impacts and the ongoing inflationary trends. Explaining this development Bernhard J. Stempfle, Managing Director Finances & Infrastructure, says: “The current fiscal year will also bring positive figures. After the high-loss pandemic years, we will finally be able to invest in the future of the company: meaning digital transformation to make Messe Düsseldorf agile internally and create attractive offers externally with a view to strengthening the pole position of Düsseldorf’s world-leading trade fairs as community platforms. Add to this the further modernisation of our fairgrounds whose size, infrastructure and technical facilities are a guarantee of success for the Düsseldorf trade fair location.”

In 2023 Messe Düsseldorf intends to invest just under €24.3m into these activities. This amount clearly exceeds the previous year’s at €18.4m. In the following years, this amount will rise significantly and amount to around €40m annually in the years up to 2027. A major share will be accounted for by the modernisation of Hall 9, which will cost €140m in total. Another project is the construction of a modern Food Court.

Strong new business
Messe Düsseldorf is forging ahead with its new business development. For the trade fair years 2022/23 alone, the Messe Düsseldorf Group posts 16 new events in Düsseldorf and the world over. In late March, for example, Düsseldorf welcomed the world’s biggest trade fair organiser informa to its fairgrounds for the first time and organised TISSUE WORLD, the leading trade fair for paper, hygiene and non-woven products. Held in parallel was Germany’s leading trade fair for fleet management, “Flotte! Der Branchentreff”, which Messe Düsseldorf has now bound to the location Düsseldorf long term as part of a strategic partnership. It thereby extends its portfolio to include an additional mobility-related trade fair.

The new international events this year include XPONENTIAL in Denver, Colorado (USA), in May as well as “Wine & Gourmet Japan – powered by ProWein”, to be held as  ProWine Tokyo from 2024. “We are exploring new future themes and attractive markets with high growth potential,” elucidates Wolfram N. Diener and goes on to say: “This is why with XPONENTIAL, the biggest trade fair acquisition in our history, we entered the promising industry for uncrewed systems and robotics. In 2025 we will bring a satellite event called XPONENTIAL Europe to Düsseldorf – and also expand into other markets beyond. In geographic terms Messe Düsseldorf is focusing on Asia, North Africa as well as North and South America. Add to this, stepped-up activities in Turkey.

Sustainable agenda
Ecological sustainability is another future theme to which Messe Düsseldorf is very much dedicated. To promote this theme in the exhibition industry, it launched a 100% sustainably designed exhibition stand as well as a customer guide for sustainable trade fair appearances at EuroShop from 26 February to 2 March 2023. Since October 2022 Messe Düsseldorf has also been a climate partner of the city of Düsseldorf and is among the first signatories of the Düsseldorf Climate Pact. Wolfram N. Diener stresses: “With all our measures – from new business development to digital transformation, from fairground optimisation to ecological sustainability – we set Messe Düsseldorf up for the future: for our customers from throughout the world as well as for the trade fair locations Düsseldorf and North Rhine-Westphalia.”

Media Contact:
Dr. Andrea Gränzdörffer
Director Corporate Communications / Press Spokesperson
Phone: 0211/4560-555
Email: graenzdoerffera@messe-duesseldorf.de

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