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Eventful year sees agency build up turnover and invest in the future
INCREASING business from existing clients and global expansion helped management agency WorldEvents to increase its turnover by 43 per cent last year, but the firm said it was experiencing a tougher environment in 2009.
The Cleckheaton-based group said its turnover increased to 30.3m in 2008, compared to 21.1m the year before, while underlying operating profit rose by 30 per cent to 1.3m from 1m.
The privately-owned international event agency manages conferences, roadshows, product launches and VIP meetings for clients including Astellas, Chanel, Deloitte, GlaxoSmithKline, IMS Health, Johnson & Johnson, L'Oreal and NHS.
The firm said the significant growth in turnover was a reflection of continuing business development success and gain in market share but warned it was not immune from the economic downturn.
Executive chairman Graham Keene said: "Naturally, we are cautious about the potential impact of the current economic climate on our business in the short term, but we remain optimistic that by investing in
our staff, our global offer and our technology we will ensure that WorldEvents is one of the strongest agencies post the current tough trading conditions".
WorldEvents said it had increased its staff by 20 per cent, to 120, globally, including 100 in Yorkshire.
Operating profits have been invested in WorldEvents' strategy to increase its global presence.
The European mainland office was set up in Amsterdam at the beginning of the year with a central team of 10 staff, supported by full-time employees working on a satellite basis across Europe.
Earlier this week, the agency announced that it had launched an office in Switzerland where it recruited Uwe Bornemann, an event professional based in Zurich, to lead the company's growth. Mr Bornemann will also work with the agency's satellite office in Germany.
The company also has offices in the US.
Meanwhile, the agency also continued the development of its AgoraLive delegate management and marketing communications software system by investing significantly in additional functionality.
This has now been rolled out successfully and is used by the majority of clients.
Martin Parry, managing director, said: "We are very pleased with these numbers which have again achieved our targets and demonstrate our capacity to deliver consistent profits in a highly competitive market.
"While our financial performance is a key measure of our success, the strength of the group as a whole is reflected in the growing list of blue-chip clients and the recognition through awards of the high quality events we deliver on their behalf." He added: "We were hoping for a continuation of our results into 2009 and beyond to keep our track record going. But with the economic situation turning at the beginning of the year, our aspirations for this year are mindful of these conditions. Clients are reducing their spend on events and cancelling some events that perhaps we would have run this year.
"While we have still got a robust business we are not immune from the recession and we are cautiously optimistic about the future.
"We are still keen to continue with our overseas development strategy but we have to make sure that we can support that growth. The core UK business has to remain the focus of the group but we want to develop more in the US, Europe and the Far East and hopefully that will come in the next two to five years."
In 2008, WorldEvents, which was founded in 1986, managed more than 300 events in more than 40 countries for more than 33,000 delegates.
WORLDWIDE SUCCESSES
WorldEvents, which was founded in 1986, is a privately-owned international event agency which manages conferences, roadshows, product launches and VIP meetings for clients in every sector, including pharmaceutical, finance, technology, education, local government, wellbeing, beauty and health.
It has organised sales conferences in France, trade shows in Asia, VIP events in the Arctic and gala celebrations in Africa.
Clients include Astellas, Chanel, Deloitte, GlaxoSmithKline, IMS Health,
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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