GERMANY – In 2020 sales of Koelnmesse will drop from 413 to 95 million euros as 54 of 70 planned trade fairs had to be canceled.

So far, the financial reserves from the good economic development of the past few years, short-time working and a current strict austerity policy have carried the company through the crisis without any major downsizing, which nevertheless, as in the entire trade fair industry, has left its mark on the financial statements. Since March 2020 there has not been a separate event on the Cologne site. 54 of 70 planned trade fairs in Germany and abroad were canceled or – in some cases several times – postponed in 2020.

The financial forecast for 2021 remains difficult. Chief Financial Officer, Koelnmesse, Herbert Marner stated, “We are certainly going to have to accept further significant losses in revenue, and, depending on the duration of the crisis, we will be seeing high losses again in 2021. Our scenarios are based on the timing of the relaunch and the speed at which the trade fairs can return to a new normality.”

Koelnmesse intends to resume its sustained growth as soon as possible after the coronavirus pandemic. Once it has overcome the worldwide crisis, Koelnmesse plans to return to previous levels of earnings and revenue beginning in 2023, assuming the global economy returns to its previous level of stable growth.

In the furniture industry, Koelnmesse is the force behind interzum, interzum Guangzhou, interzum Bogotá, ZOW, Orgatec, imm and LivingKitchen.