Finances boosted at NEC Group after takeover

The NEC Group, the Birmingham-based operator of five live events venues, has reported a surge in revenue and earnings during its latest financial results.

The accounts have revealed that revenue rose by 17.9 per cent to £157.7m for the year to 31 March 2017.

The full results are the first since the company, which also owns caterer Amadeus and national ticketing agency The Ticket Factory, was acquired by LDC in May 2015.

Reported EBITDA for the trading businesses, including valuation gains on investment properties of £2.6m, was £50.4m, up £18.6m compared to last year.

The company said the success was down to an emphasis on improving the range of uses of the NEC campus and its city centre venues.

New exhibitions hosted for the first time included Automechanika, Destination Star Trek and the UK Games Expo.

These supplemented the programme of well-established exhibitions including Spring Fair, Crufts and the BBC Good Food Show and more recently introduced formats such as Insomnia, the UK's biggest gaming festival.

The group's two arenas welcomed more than 1.4 million visitors during the year and international music acts hosted included Adele, Justin Bieber, Drake and Black Sabbath also performed.

The arenas also welcomed back Horse of the Year Show, BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Strictly Come Dancing and Cirque du Soleil.

Chief executive Paul Thandi said: "This has been an exceptional year, building on the strong maiden results the group posted 12 months ago.

"As part of our transformation agenda, we are implementing an exciting and focussed strategy which starts with a deep understanding of the needs of our customers and visitors.

"That understanding is in large part obtained from the insight we draw from data. 

"We invest our resources to address those needs and improve the experience of our customers and visitors, and we can see the benefit of that approach in the significant levels of new business we have secured."

The company operates the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), International Convention Centre (ICC), Genting Arena, Arena Birmingham and the Vox Conference Centre.

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