FIRA DE BARCELONA
| REPORTS 2012
sustainability, recycling and energy efficiency that
has been applied to the acts and events held.
Within the range of services offered to exhibitors
there was the possibility of acquiring eco-friendly
stands and accessories, as well as a service to
calculate and compensate the carbon footprint,
which identifies the sources of greenhouse gas
emission that goes with any human activity.
Throughout the year 2012, more than 1,100
tonnes of waste (paper and cardboard, glass, light
packaging, etc.) generated in the shows were
transferred to recovery plants for the production
of recycled materials.
In the context of the policy of Corporate Social
Responsibility, Fira continued its collaboration with
several civic organizations for the development of
solidarity actions. In May 2012, Palace number 1
of the Montjuïc venue became a huge call centre
for a special edition of TV3’s Marathon, devoted
to fighting poverty with fundraisings for social third
sector entities. In December the annual regular
edition of the marathon was held there, this time
devoted to cancer research.
Likewise, the GastroFira department and the
International Food and Beverage Fair continued
to work in collaboration with the Food Bank
Foundation, by delivering the surplus production
with short shelf life gathered at the end of events.
GastroFira also started his collaboration with NGO
(Nutrition Without Borders).
Also, the institution included a social clause in
all the requests for proposal, which gave extra
score to suppliers with a minimum of 2% of
disabled employees. The Fair also worked with
several institutions devoted to the insertion
of handicapped people (Adecco Foundation,
Incorpora program of “La Caixa”, Seeliger y Conde
Foundation, etc.), contributed to the activities of
other entities such as the Step by Step Foundation
and Caritas, and helped to spread the values of
organizations such as ONCE, UNICEF, Cruz Roja,
the Pere Tarrés Foundation and the Vicente Ferrer
Foundation, among others. Working with the
University and the educational world is also part of
the plan of Fira to respond to the demands of its
social responsibility.
The importance of communications
Through its Communications Department, Fira
de Barcelona worked intensely to inform about
the shows and events held by the institution
and about its corporate policy, either on the
mainstream media (written press, radio, TV, news
agencies, etc.) or on online media, which has
progressively acquired an increasing weight in
shaping public opinion.
In 2012 the corporate blog Firablog was launched,
followed by the release of the also digital Firanews,
both of which providing a wide and open approach
to trade fair activity. In addition, the institutional
website, with more than 638,000 visits in 2012,
and the corporate Twitter, which has more than
5,000 followers, proved to be very important media
instruments.
During 2012 more than 10,000 journalists were
accredited in different shows, and more than
23,700 news were published or issued, related to
the shows and trade fair events, as well as to Fira
de Barcelona’s corporate dimension.
ECONOMIC
RESULTS 2012
In comparison to previous years, 2012 has been
a good year in terms of turnover. Despite the
recession affecting the main economic sectors
represented in the major Fira shows, revenue
exceeded 115 million euros, thus recovering the
levels of 2009.
This result has been made possible by the
innovative efforts put into the shows, the
international events and the launching
of adequate products for the new social and
business demands.
According to trends, odd-numbered years
had always reached higher figures than even-
numbered ones, due to calendar reasons.
Worthy of note is that this year this pattern
has changed. Through 2012, it has become
evident that turnover depends much more on
attracting international events and on
the overall performance of the shows held
at Fira de Barcelona.
In this sense, the Mobile World Congress stands
out for its impact on the results. After having
been hosted at the Montjuïc venue for seven
years, in 2013 it moved its premises to the Gran
Via venue, in order to have more space as well as
better logistics and operational capacities. Other
significant events held in 2012 were Alimentaria,
the joint edition of Hispack and Bta., Hostelco,
Smart City Expo, Bizbarcelona, the Barcelona
International Boat Show and The Brandery,
among others.
The final turnover amounts to 115.1 million euros,
an increase of 13.3% over the 101.6 million
euros of 2010, the last even-numbered year
and therefore traditionally comparable. It is also
an increase of 0.4 million euros over the 114.7
million euros of 2011.
This final turnover refers to the amount generated
both by the Fira Barcelona society and Firesa,
devoted to the provision of logistics and
operational services and to trade fair operations,
or Alimentaria Exhibitions S.A., food trade
shows organizer.
As for the evolution of operational expenditure,
which amounted to 104.1 million euros, it
has meant an increase of 14.9% over 2010,
which is somehow proportional to the increase
of the activity. When compared to 2011, we
can see that the evolution is parallel to that of
revenues, with an increase of 0.5 million euros
over the 103.6 million euros of operational
expenditure in 2011. This growth is the result
of an increase in the number of shows held in
2012. In this sense, Fira continues its efforts to
preserve the budget allocated to the promotion
of shows.
Likewise, efforts have been made to continue
the 2009 cuts in structural expenditure, which
stabilized at 21.5 million euros in 2012; 21.1 in
2011; and 21.4 in 2010.
The combined performance of these figures
means that an EBITDA of 11 million euros
was achieved, in line with the results of 2011
and 2010.
As regards investments, the restrictive
policy applied in previous years has been
followed, although for operational reasons,
improvements were made to the facilities
in the Montjuïc venue and to the computer
development programme, involving resources
of 1.8 million euros.
Finally, worthy of mention is the agreement reached
at the end of 2012 with Reed Exhibitions Iberia
to purchase 50% of the shares that this company
had in Alimentaria Exhibitions, S.A., a joint venture
of Fira de Barcelona and the British multinational.
With this action, Fira becomes the owner of 100%
of the organizer of Alimentaria, Bta., Alimentaria
Lisboa, Alimentaria México, Alimentaria Brasil and
Seafood Barcelona.
This agreement has no economic impact on 2012,
since it will become effective as of January 2,
2013, but it will certainly have a favourable impact
over the next years.
