Many of the facts we believe to be of particular importance for both, the year 2024 and the future, have been addressed in the video. To supplement our discussion, we have summarised some key figures and thoughts below. We are extremely pleased to have succeeded in surpassing our ambitious financial goals for 2024, and to have done so by a wide margin: With 47 events on the exhibition campus and 76 at the CCH – Congress Center Hamburg, the Hamburg Messe und Congress (HMC) team generated record sales revenues in the amount of 140.2 m euros. That means that for each day of 2024, a leap year with 366 days, we recorded revenues of approximately 383,000 euros. This puts Hamburg Messe und Congress 25.5 per cent ahead of its best annual sales figure to date, achieved in 2016. We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all our staff members for this outcome – it was mainly them who made this possible. Furthermore, we want to thank the 13,676 exhibitors who put their trust in us in 2024, as well as the 902,330 guests who visited our events.

There is one particular outcome of our first joint year as CEOs that catches the eye: For the first time since the new exhibition campus was fully commissioned in 2008, HMC has achieved a positive result, with a bottom line of 20.9 m euros. Last year’s excellent result has two key components. First, for Hamburg Messe und Congress the rental fees for the exhibition halls were changed into fees which are typically charged for commercial property of this type. But it is also important to mention that – even without the adjustment of the rental costs – we have achieved an operating result in the million-euro range, thanks to important strategic decisions in recent years and a re-structured HMC.

Once more our HMC-organised events, HAMBURG OPEN, REISEN & CARAVANING Hamburg, INTERNORGA, SMM, WindEnergy Hamburg, Polaris Convention and GET NORD were the mainstays of our success. While the time-honoured trade fairs INTERNORGA and SMM confirmed their status as the best-performing events, it was primarily WindEnergy Hamburg that surpassed its target for 2024 considerably. Together, SMM, the Hydrogen Technology Expo – a guest event held in Hamburg for the first time – and the wind industry’s world-leading trade fair formed a group of autumn events we call the “Hamburg Big 3 of the Energy Transition”, a key initiative for the City of Hamburg with its numerous business clusters, as it aims to establish itself as a major global hub for the hydrogen sector. 

In our Guest Events segment, we were able to celebrate a record achievement: Our halls were booked forty times by event organisers planning trade fairs and other events – more than in any previous year. This number is going to increase even further: Around 50 guest events have been announced for 2025.

At the CCH – Congress Center Hamburg, both the number of events and the number of visitors grew further. We welcomed major medical congresses, such as the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), attended by 4,000 world-leading scientists specialising on stem cell research and regenerative medicine, or the congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), whose 6,500 participants occupied the entire CCH for five days. The IAPH World Ports Conference, the DGK Heart Days, and the IMEKO World Congress focusing on digitalisation and quantum technology were other major events.

Security is a topic of increasing importance around the world, and in 2025, HMC will again expand its own portfolio of events by hosting the Global Security and Innovation Summit (GSIS) in October. To this end, a partnership has been established with the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). The GSIS aims to provide a platform for international experts and decision-makers to discuss the growing number of security challenges for governments, and develop innovative solutions.

All in all, 56 events are planned on the exhibition campus in 2025, and more than 100 at the CCH – Congress Center Hamburg. Sales revenues are forecasted at 85.8 million euros for 2025, an odd year with fewer trade events. This will be another milestone achievement, however, as it puts us in a position to present a balanced or even slightly positive bottom line for the two-year event cycle for the first time – an excellent basis for HMC’s continued successful development. 

Yours sincerely

Uwe Fischer       Heiko M. Stutzinger

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