Informa projects a further return of live and on-demand events would point to a strong recovery for global business events in 2023. Photo Credit: Adobe/engel.ac
Business information and events provider Informa has reported underlying growth of 41% in the 10 months to October this year, attributing this to strong performance in live and on-demand events in North America, EMEA and ASEAN markets.
In a trading statement issued last week, Informa projected the business would continue this momentum into 2023, with the further return of live and on-demand events, pointing to a strong recovery for global business events.
Stephen Carter, Informa group chief executive said: “B2B market demand is growing across many industries and most geographies, with the current exception of China, which will provide incremental growth as it reopens. Informa and its brands are at the heart of this B2B market strength.”
The statement said: “As digital communications, digital commerce and digital delivery become more ubiquitous, high quality, highly efficient live and on-demand B2B events that provide industry access, curated connections and specialist content, are becoming more valuable. This is evident across all three B2B markets businesses in 2022 (Informa Markets, Informa Connect, Informa Tech), with strong demand for our live event brands in all major markets and geographies as they have opened up post Covid-19.”
Over the first 10 months of the year, underlying revenue growth in Informa’s B2B Markets division was 65%, reflecting 400+ live B2B events, which attracted around 60,000 exhibitors, more than 2.5 million attendees and generated more than £1.1 billion (US$1.3 billion) of revenue.
The statement added that growth has been consistent across all specialist markets and all geographic regions where Covid restrictions have been removed and are fully open. It said: “In the US, customer demand has been particularly strong as B2B activity has returned at pace, playing to the strength of our brands, leadership positions within key specialist markets and the scale of our overall business in the region.”
Informa said its live events activity in China has been limited to a number of smaller, regional brands and it is now focusing its major brands on delivering for customers in 2023.
Recent Informa events in Asia include Offshore South East Asia, Cosmopack Asia and Cosmoprof Asia, all held in Singapore in the last month.