The Vicenza Fair will specialize in vertical industrial events for manufacturing districts. Not just the historical flagship, that is Vicenzaoro and T.Gold for jewellery. But also, for example, A&T – Automation & Testing North East in industrial automation technologies, a novelty that debuted in November 2023.
This is foreseen by the strategic plan of IEG – Italian Exhibition Group, commented in Rimini by the president Maurizio Renzo Ermeti and the managing director Corrado Arturo Peraboni, reconfirmed in their respective roles by the ordinary and extraordinary shareholders’ meeting and by the new board of directors of IEG on April 29.
A day on which the demolition of the central spiral structure of the Vicenza exhibition center also began, in whose place a new, larger and brighter pavilion will be built with completion of the works expected by September 2026. An investment of over 60 million euros.
The 2023 budget approved. Revenues of 212.4 million euros (+32.4% on 2022), Adjusted Ebitda of 49.5 million (23.3% margin), net result of 13.3 million (6, 3% of revenues), operating profit of 14.16 million, negative net financial position of 71.9 million euros. 2023 closed with an operating profit of 14.16 million euros: the meeting resolved a distribution of dividends starting from 22 May 2024 for a gross total of 4.15 million (equal to 0.14 euros per share), while 9.77 million were allocated to cover previous operating losses. «We have achieved the objectives of the previous mandate – underlined Peraboni – which were the consolidation of leadership in various fairs and the transition to an international player dimension. Added to which was the survival of the collapse in revenues due to the total suspension of trade fairs during the Covid period. And they succeeded without the need to resort to capital increases, indeed we went back to distributing dividends.”
The company’s goal for the next few years is to exceed 300 million in turnover, strengthening the internationalization process, organizing new events in Italy where it can bring more and more foreign buyers. President Ermeti highlighted the 5% growth in the numbers of the latest editions of T-Gold and Vicenzaoro. In addition to the great success of the Rimini tourism fairs (Ttg + 20%), the circular economy (Ecomondo +15%), the energy transition (Key +41%), the ice cream (Sigep, +22% of buyers).
The company’s governance model has therefore been revised, to be adequate for what CEO Peraboni has defined as «the new championship that now begins for IEG, called to play at an international level with very relevant competitors in a global market in which we are the only Italian company in the ranking of the largest players in the sector, in which we are positioned in twenty-first place”. In the new managerial structure Marco Carniello, for years head of the Jewelery & Fashion division, takes on the unprecedented role of Chief Business Officer as coordinator of all IEG fairs.
On the international front, the news is the upcoming arrival in Saudi Arabia, where in February 2025, through the Dubai structure, IEG will organize two events in the fitness field in Riyadh: Wellness and Muscle Show. «And other hypotheses of events are being studied in sectors that we cover for which there is demand in the Saudi market», added Peraboni. While the consolidation of other international activities will continue, from the American continent to the Asian one. «We have become adults, on the verge of being considered an international trade fair operator. It was not obvious for the history of Rimini and Vicenza as a trade fair: Lorenzo Cagnoni, with his vision and the team he was able to build, was the key figure in this transformation”, concluded Ermeti.
