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Sales up some 40 percent in 2024 Jubilee Year, compared to 2022
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Trade fairs make gains thanks to lively international attendance
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Investment in the future by acquiring WEKA Fachmedien GmbH and the ALTENPFLEGE trade fair, and by remodelling and modernising the NXT74 employee centre
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Positive outlook for the cyclically lower-income 2025 events year: sales of roughly EUR 350 M expected thanks to very good registration levels
NürnbergMesse has closed out the year of its 50th anniversary with a new sales record of some EUR 360 million. That figure not only significantly outperformed the EUR 257 million of the cyclically comparable 2022 year, but also the previous record of EUR 315 million from the 2018 year. The NürnbergMesse Group’s 140 events worldwide enjoyed strong demand, with a total of 33,900 exhibitors (2023: 28,153) and 1.56 million visitors (2023: 1.28 million) on 1.18 million square metres of net space (2023: 904,466). “Our biggest birthday present for our 50-year jubilee came from our customers, with their lively attendance at our trade fairs, conferences, and other events – they gave us the best year in our history so far!” said a happy Peter Ottmann, CEO of the NürnbergMesse Group. At the same time, NürnbergMesse has chosen important course settings for the future by acquiring the publisher WEKA Fachmedien GmbH and ALTENPFLEGE, the leading trade fair for the care sector – particularly significant investments in the future of Nuremberg as well, as a site for trade events.
The new sales record for 2024 resulted from vigorous attendance at NürnbergMesse events both in Germany and abroad. For instance two subsidiaries, NürnbergMesse Brasil and NürnbergMesse China, also enjoyed their best company results to date.
The Nuremberg Exhibition Centre hosted a total of 71 events, with 23,800 exhibitors appearing for 930,000 visitors on 880,000 square metres of net space. Own and partner events in the second half especially, like FACHPACK (exhibitors up 26%), Chillventa (exhibitors up 20%) and it-sa (visitors up 33%), set robust new standards for their sectors. Even as business conditions in Germany remain rather slack, the trade fairs in Nuremberg benefited from high levels of international attendance, with international exhibitors reaching 51% of the total. Overall, own and partner events in Nuremberg showed gains of 15% in exhibitors, 19% in net space, and 29% in visitors.
Acquisitions invest in the future
The company took an important step for the future in acquiring WEKA Fachmedien GmbH at 1 January 2025. For more than 20 years, NürnbergMesse has joined forces with this leading provider of trade publications, digital platforms, and events in the fields of electronics, automation, and information and communications technology, to organise the sector’s leading trade fair, embedded world. This successful ecosystem will now be developed further into the future by intermeshing the trade fair and media businesses even more closely. Also with the new year, NürnbergMesse acquired ALTENPFLEGE, Europe’s largest and most important meeting place for the care sector, from the Vincentz Networks media firm. The acquisition adds yet another leading trade fair to NürnbergMesse’s portfolio, and given the fact of demographic change, the company intends to expand its cluster of trade fairs for the social support sector still further.
Focus on digital services and sustainability
NürnbergMesse is drawing even more on digital innovations so it can offer customers an impressive yet also efficient trade fair experience. In 2024 it began with the development of a new e-commerce platform that offers customers access to a wide range of products and services. Artificial intelligence (AI) will also find its way more and more into the exhibition venue. AI-supported services at events make it possible to translate presentations into multiple languages in real time. NürnbergMesse is still taking numerous steps to make event attendance as sustainable as possible. At the start of 2025, for instance, it introduced “Eco-Carpet” – a floor covering that can be reused or recycled¬ – at all its events. The company has highlighted its commitment to sustainability by again earning certification to ISO 14001 for its environmental management system and to ISO 50001 for its energy management system – thus assuming a pioneering role in Germany’s trade fair industry.
New NXT74 employee centre
Development of the NXT74 employee centre, which will offer staff a new work environment and new offices by the end of 2025, is advancing on schedule. The building at the Mitte entrance is being renovated to save energy, modernised for sustainability, and restructured to be barrier-free. The aim is to earn certification for the building from the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). By 2026, the space should provide a modern workplace for some 250 employees who have hitherto had to work at an outside second location in the suburb of Nuremberg-Langwasser. All in all, the NürnbergMesse Group had an average of 1,181 employees, 590 of whom were at NürnbergMesse GmbH, including 38 apprentices, 19 students in dual-track university programmes, and 10 trainees.
Outlook for 2025
The calendar for 2025 currently holds 140 events around the world, 76 of them in Nuremberg. Among the new additions will be BIOFACH America, EUROGUSS in Mexico, Construlev in Brazil, and a guest event, Interlift (AFAG). This, the world’s leading trade fair for the elevator industry, is held by NürnbergMesse’s partner AFAG, which by now organises ten guest trade fairs at the Nuremberg Exhibition Centre. Another new arrival in Nuremberg, on 21/22 May, will be the Deutsche Sparkassentag, the German Savings Banks Association’s convention – one of Europe’s largest conferences on business and financial policy.
In light of the positive registration levels for events in the first half of 2025, NürnbergMesse is heading into the new events year with optimism, and expects sales of some EUR 350 million.
