2008 Financial Benchmark Survey of European Event Organisers

Most profitable European agencies named in new report

Leanne Bell, 26 November 2008

2008 Financial Benchmark Survey of European Event Organisers reveals top agencies

GL Events, Grass Roots, Expotel, Europa Org, Motivcom, EDT Eventos and AIM Congress are Europe's highest pre-tax profit-earning agencies, according to a new survey.

The inaugural 2008 Financial Benchmark Survey of European Event Organisers was conducted by Brett Howell Associates.

The survey found that the top agencies by pre-tax profit for the 2007 calendar year were:

1 GL Events (Euro 48.9m)
2 Grass Roots (Euro 12.3m)
3 Expotel (Euro 6.5m)
4 Europa Org (Euro 5m)
5 Motivcom (Euro 4.9m)
6 EDT Eventos (Euro 4.7m)
7 AIM Congress (Euro 4.5m)

Pre-tax profits across the surveyed agencies grew by 25% on the previous year to Euro133m.

Survey author Graham Brett said: "Worryingly for small agencies, almost all of the increase in pre-tax profit was attributable to the largest seven agencies."

The research also showed that the surveyed agencies collectively achieved an 8.7% increase in turnover to Euro 3.15bn, and gross margins grew 0.3% to 25.3%.

"When acquisitions and new office openings are stripped out, the figure is probably closer to 1% growth, which isn't good with inflation between 2% and 4%," said Brett.