The Frankfurt Fair in Italy: «Ready for alliances and acquisitions»
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«These have been two very difficult years for the exhibition industry, and the current scenario is no less worrying, but this situation has also created opportunities, accelerating some processes that would have been unthinkable up to three years ago, at least in terms of let’s see today. I am referring above all to digitization and openness to collaborations and alliances between companies historically in competition with each other». Detlef Braun, president and board member of Messe Frankfurt – one of the largest international trade fair groups, with a turnover of 736 million euros in 2019 and 2,200 employees – is in Milan not only for year-end greetings to the Italian team (operating since 1998, with 43 people). It is in our country because “Italy has always been an important market for us, but never has it been one of our priorities as it is now”, explains Braun. 2022 was the best year for the Italian branch in terms of profit, explains the managing director of Messe Frankfurt Italia Donald J. Wich: «Our main fair in Italy, Sps, which is held in the Parma district, achieved record results, and the presence of Italian companies at our events in Frankfurt and in the rest of the world has also increased». Not only that: if in terms of exhibitors and visitors the group as a whole has recovered between 60% and 80% of pre-pandemic levels, events in Italy have achieved superior performances.
President, will Italy have an increasing weight in your portfolio?
Yes, we intend to increase the presence of Italian companies in our exhibitions, and we also want to consolidate our presence in Italy, in line with a market diversification strategy. Let’s think about the context: following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Moscow by the German government, our group, which is publicly owned (60% is controlled by the Municipality of Frankfurt and 40% by the federal state of Essen , ed), had to divest its Russian branch. In China, our second market after Germany, the situation is very uncertain, due to the anti-Covid restrictions, so we have decided to reduce our dependence on China and strengthen ourselves in other markets. We are one of the trade fair players with the largest international presence, with 28 branches and more than 50 sales partners in 186 countries, but we can still grow, especially in markets such as the United States, India, Asean, Japan, the Middle East and Europe itself. Italy also fits into this context.
What does the growth strategy foresee in our country?
The first step is to evaluate opportunities to implement our existing portfolio in five major business areas: textiles, consumer goods, mobility and logistics, media and entertainment and technologies. Secondly, we are ready to acquire new interesting products among those already existing on the market. Finally, we are open to collaborations with other trade fair companies.
Are you thinking of alliances, even of a corporate nature, with the main Italian exhibition groups?
Absolutely yes. It could be on the product front, or exhibitions, but we are open to evaluating other opportunities as well, where they have an industrial and strategic sense. Also to work together outside Italy, as we already do, for example, in Shanghai, with Milano Unica. We have infrastructure all over the world and this could be of great interest for Italian exhibition groups, which instead generally operate abroad relying on the structures of local subjects. The priority concerns our five strategic areas, in which we have decades of experience and expertise. But we are open to evaluating other opportunities as well, if the industrial base is solid and interesting.
Scenarios and strategies that were unthinkable before Covid-19…
It is true. We talked a lot about the disadvantages and difficulties of these two years. But let’s also look at the opportunities: would we have been so open to the digitization of services or to collaborations and alliances with our competitors if there hadn’t been a pandemic? I honestly don’t think so, or at least not at this level and in this way. It was tough, needless to deny it: for 24 months, from February 2020 to the second quarter of 2022, our activity was almost exclusively to postpone or cancel demonstrations. In some countries, activities continued, but in most of the markets where we are present they stopped. It was demotivating for our team, but also difficult from an economic point of view: we have almost zeroed our revenues, while the operating, organization and promotion costs have remained: around 75% of the costs foreseen for the events have been spent, even if they didn’t take place or if they were held only in digital form.
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