Bernexpo Groupe is doing well
It is only a matter of time before the Bernexpo Group divests itself of Messepark Bern AG in order to focus its efforts on its core business.
Trade show competition in Switzerland is fierce. In Bern, they are unagitatedly successful with an intelligent strategy and a rarely seen creativity with a focus on event making.
One example: In 2019, Bernexpo Groupe acquired the online companies Together and Toledo with 20 trade fairs and events and 80,000 users - in order to expand the live communication business trade fairs and events on the topic of careers and further education.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bernexpo Groupe, Franziska von Weissenfluh, rightly said at the Annual General Meeting on May 27, 2019: "Bernexpo Groupe is doing well. It is standing on healthy legs. Our successful state of health is anything but self-evident." Why?
"We could not imagine that there would no longer be a Comptoir Suisse, a Muba," one shareholder told me. Board President Franziska von Weissenfluh and CEO Jennifer Somm (pictured below) explained the strategy used to prevent a corresponding development of the public exhibition BEA Bern. And how they paused the struggling Swiss Toy in order to successfully relaunch it.
Previously, Bernexpo Groupe had streamlined precisely this core business in Live Communication and bundled it into the pillars of Holidays & Leisure, Interior and Design, Industry & Technology and Education & Career. This formed the 2nd phase in the turnaround of Bernexpo Groupe, which was still dramatically undercapitalized in 2002. After the charismatic Nicolas Markwalder took over as Chairman of the Board (first phase), a capital increase was initiated and the core business of live communication was separated from the real estate business.
In the second phase, Bernexpo Groupe focused consistently on organizing trade fairs and events. The third phase is still pending (or imminent?): The sale of Messepark AG, which is responsible for the maintenance of the exhibition halls. If an agreement is reached with HRS, one of the largest real estate marketers in Switzerland, the winning project of the competition for the replacement of the old Festhalle, entitled "BeMotion Base", can finally be realized.
Bernexpo Groupe generates 260 million francs in economic effects for regional trade and 1000 overnight stays per year. With sales of 62.6 million francs, the previous year's figure was exceeded by 8 percent in the 2018 financial year. Net profit increased by 13 percent to 3.3 million francs (previous year: 2.9 million francs). EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) amounted to 11.0 million Swiss francs (previous year: 11.7 million Swiss francs). The slight decrease is due to the change in the trade show mix and higher innovation and development costs.
With Nicolas Markwalder and Franziska von Weissenfluh, Bernexpo Group has had a lucky hand. And now also with economist and CEO Jennifer Somm. They are turning the Bern exhibition center into a leading company for live communication as part of a necessary transformation of the "trade fair" business model. And are rewarded with the influx of new trade fairs such as Ble.ch or Hero Fest.
Ines Pöschl stepped down from the Board of Directors. With Pascale Bruderer and Peter Stähli as well as Jürg Stöckli and Dominique Schmid, two new members each were elected to the boards of Bernexpo Holdling and Messepark Bern AG. Andreas Rickenbacher was re-elected.
