The best years are still to come at NürnbergMesse

“The best years are still to come at NürnbergMesse,” of which Managing Director Bernd A. Diederichs is firmly convinced. The figures – and even more important the exhibition concepts and team spirit – prove him right: The company expects a group turnover of 123 million euros in 2007, over 130 million euros in 2008 and over 150 million euros in 2010. “The founding of subsidiaries in China and North America and the purchase of other exhibitions are important investments along this path. It is also just as important to make the exhibition centre in Nürnberg fit for the future,” says Diederichs. The latest building project is an important module in this respect: the extension of the central entrance, service and congress area. Completion is planned for autumn 2010 and the NürnbergMesse supervisory board has already approved the project.

Some 25 million visitors, exhibitors and congress participants have passed through the central entrance over the last 33 years and used the associated service facilities, and perhaps Brüssel hall as well. “The central area originates from the first construction phase of the exhibition centre. It is now time to equip it for the next three decades – in terms of both dimension and function,” emphasizes Diederichs.  
 
New visiting card for NürnbergMesse  
In future, an approx. 8,000 m2 building will span the entire area, including the forecourt facing the underground station. Brüssel hall will be demolished and rebuilt in another location: It will move to a mezzanine floor nearer to the CongressCenter Mitte and its conference rooms. The entrance and service function will be distinctly upgraded. “The tall, light and  
 
transparent building with a view to CCN Ost creates a new quality, which elegantly combines a larger number of counters, larger cloakrooms and additional catering areas and makes it easier to coordinate the various flows of users at the same time,” says Diederichs, explaining the future architectural design. The construction measure will also be used for energy optimization purposes: The two office and congress buildings flanking the central entrance will receive a double façade as a contribution to energy conservation and CO2 reduction. “The new central area as well as CCN Ost will be a good advertisement for our site in future, especially for our international exhibition and congress participants,” says Diederichs. For experience shows that they arrive by taxi or underground in the central/west area of the exhibition centre. The total cost of these extensive construction measures amounts to some 40 million euros.  
 
2007: second-best year in the history of the company  
With a turnover of approx. 123 million euros in 2007, NürnbergMesse only narrowly missed beating the record result of some 126 million euros for the previous year. “We are nevertheless very satisfied. The exhibition programme in the odd years has a totally different composition to the even years, in which it is always easier to achieve new records. We have never had such close results in the last ten years,” explains Diederichs, who attributes this result to outstanding team performance in a good economic environment.  
 
Due to the differences between the exhibition programmes, the Nürnberg exhibition company dispenses with a comparison with the previous year and instead compares odd years with odd years and even with even. On this basis, the NürnbergMesse Group achieved new records for the number of exhibitors with some 26,000 (2005: 21,097) and the number of international exhibitors with over 9,000 (2005: 8,142). The net space sold rose from 681,000 m2 in 2005 to 776,000 m2. The number of trade visitors also grew appreciably to 775,000 (2005: 620,000), including some 150,000 international visitors (2005: 120,000). If the number of visitors at the large public exhibitions is added, this gives a total of some 1.24 million visitors (2005: 1.17 million).  
 
Even more precise, but also more complicated, is the comparison with the respective previous event. “However, this is the only way to make the powerful growth of the programme really clear,” says Diederichs. According to AUMA (Association of the German Trade Fair Industry), the growth of the international exhibitions in Germany this year compared with the respective previous event will be approx. 2.75 per cent for the number of exhibitors and visitors and 1.75 per cent for the sold space. The 14 own events of NürnbergMesse are growing distinctly faster: by seven per cent each for the number of exhibitors and space and by six per cent for the number of visitors. “Each of our events has grown appreciably faster than the market average in the past five years, and this is to continue in the future,” declares Diederichs with self-confidence. The stars with growth in the two-figure range in 2007 were the exhibitions BioFach, IWA & OutdoorClassics, embedded world, the EUROPEAN COATINGS SHOW and LogIntern.  
 
Key figures for NürnbergMesse Group 2003 to 2007  

2008: pushing growth again  
It is already apparent that 2008 will clearly beat 2007 and 2006. The proceeds on turnover are expected to climb to over 130 million euros. Besides the growth of the existing programme, new exhibitions and exhibition segments in Germany and abroad are to provide a definite increase in turnover: 
 
CholodExpo Rossija (19-21 February 2008) in Moscow:  
This conference & exhibition concentrates on refrigeration applications and the relevant components and systems. The lively building activities in the booming Russian market ensure a big demand for refrigeration, insulation and heat pumps. One focus of the new plans is on nationwide sport projects, which are also boosted by the successful bid to host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in the Black Sea spa of Sochi.  
 
BioFach with new Wine Hall (21-24 February 2008):  
Following the premiere of Vivaness (natural personal care and wellness), BioFach 2008 concentrates its wines in the new hall 4A, as BioFach is also the world’s biggest organic wine exhibition. 
 
American Coatings Show (3-5 June 2008) in Charlotte, USA:  
The new exhibition has been designed for the American market based on the successful leading exhibition, the EUROPEAN COATINGS SHOW. The newly founded NürnbergMesse North America has been appointed for the organization.  
 
Medizin Innovativ (9-10 July 2008):  
The congress and exhibition will provide an overview of strategies, technical solutions and clinical results. The main topics include: biomaterials, diagnostics, pharmaceutical biotechnology, process optimization in hospitals, medical imaging, and navigation and robotics. The organizer is the Forum MedTech Pharma e.V.  
 
GaLaBau with new PLAYGROUND section (17-20 September 2008):  
GaLaBau 2006 was especially successful for the manufacturers of playground equipment and leisure facilities. The special PLAYGROUND section now gives this branch of industry its exhibition home in Nürnberg.  
 
Chillventa Nürnberg , International Trade Fair Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Ventilation, Heat Pumps (15-17 October 2008): 
Chillventa is the biggest and most ambitious new project in the history of NürnbergMesse. Some 700 exhibitors are expected on a net space of 30,000 m2 at the premiere of this event. 
 
About NürnbergMesse  
NürnbergMesse is one of the 20 largest exhibition companies in the world, is in the Top Ten in Europe, is a member of GDG (Gemeinschaft Deutscher Großmessen) and holds 7th place in the German rankings – in terms of turnover – after the exhibition companies in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Hanover, Munich, Cologne and Berlin, and well ahead of Essen, Stuttgart and Leipzig. The managing director has been Bernd A. Diederichs since 1997. The portfolio includes around 70 international exhibitions and congresses at the Nürnberg location and worldwide. Around 26,000 exhibitors (international share: 35 %), 775,000 trade visitors (international share: 19 %) and 465,000 consumers participate in the own, partner and guest events of NürnbergMesse each year. The group currently employs 254 persons and moderate expansion is planned. 

Contacts for press and media:
Peter Ottmann
Sarah Schaeffauer-Koers
Tel +49 (0) 9 11.86 06-83 15
Fax +49 (0) 9 11.86 06-86 40
presse@nuernbergmesse.de
www.nuernbergmesse.de