Hyve Group update shows faster-than-expected tradeshows recovery

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 27, 2022

Hyve Group, the organiser of Pure London, Moda and many other tradeshows, has issued a business update and said that the pace of in-person event recovery is “considerably ahead of anticipated levels”.

The update covers the period from 1 April to 24 June — the company’s Q3 — and it said that after the first half of the year showed a faster than expected recovery, the momentum has continued into the third quarter. In fact, Q3 is now the second busiest quarter for the group’s streamlined portfolio structure, following the sale of the Russian business in May. 

Total revenue for the period “demonstrated a full recovery on a pro-forma basis, underpinned by the continued strong customer demand for market-leading in-person events, despite ongoing macro challenges”.

It ran all nine of its scheduled in-person events (with the exception of three in Ukraine) across four continents. 

And following the “highly successful US edition of Shoptalk in March, which became Hyve's largest event by revenue in history”, the group launched the “geo-cloned Europe edition” — Shoptalk Europe — this month. The inaugural event “almost doubled expectations, attracting over 3,000 attendees from more than 50 countries”.

Five tech-enabled meeting programmes also took place during the quarter (including Shoptalk Europe), “facilitating over 4,700 one-on-one, pre-matched, algorithmically scheduled meetings”.

The firm also said forward bookings for the full year are currently £122.3 million, which excludes £6.5 million of bookings for the August Chinese events. This also excludes revenue for events in Ukraine which continue to be postponed until further notice. 

The company said that “while there continues to be uncertainty around running events in China in the near term, the group notes the beginning of a relaxation of Covid-19-related restrictions in certain regions, however this situation remains fluid”.

CEO Mark Shashoua said: “I am pleased to report another quarter of strong trading. The trends we saw emerge post-pandemic continue to hold true — in particular, our customers continue to spend more with us than before, demonstrating the huge value which in-person events offer and proving that our strategy of focusing on only market-leading events is paying off.

“The launch of Shoptalk Europe delivered exceptional results and was a prime example of how best to capitalise on organic growth and demand. With our in-person event portfolio now streamlined, our strategy going forward is to shift our focus from geographies to sectors, and Shoptalk Europe perfectly demonstrates the opportunities presented by industries which are experiencing growth themselves, as well as tech-led disruption.

“Our success this quarter has been strengthened by the continued delivery of our omnichannel strategy, which introduces additional opportunities for our customers to connect, network and trade.”

The company’s Pure London show makes its comeback as a standalone event next month after having been presented as a smaller, combo show in conjunction with Scoop since the pandemic began.