The Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC) today announced its financial results for 2012/13. Strong performances from conferences and events along with a solid outturn in exhibitions have delivered another year on year improvement reporting a pre-tax profit of £1.4m and an EBITDA of £2.5m, well ahead of expectations and £1m up on a like for like pre-tax basis.
Turnover for the Group was reported at £29.5m, an increase of 9% on previous year and an increase of 4% on a recurring basis. The figures were boosted by new commercial income streams and a final account generated for the completion of the car park development on site.
Cash balances at the year-end of £29.3m were significantly up on the equivalent level of £8.3m in 2011/12 reflecting healthy cash flow management across the business and construction projects.
The results have been achieved whilst constructing The SSE Hydro, opening later this year, improving the existing SECC with new catering facilities, completion of the new onsite car park and relocating the heliport to pave the way for future commercial development.
The importance of SECC as an economic driver for Glasgow and Scotland is underlined by the fact that £4 billion of economic impact has been generated by the company over the last 10 years.
Speaking at the announcement, John Sharkey, Chief Executive, SECC said:
“These are strong results – 2012/2013 has been a very challenging year for both The SSE Hydro construction and the business plan preparedness for handover. The SSE Hydro has already generated exceptional results for commercial partnership activation which is now contracted at nine times original business plan projections – this, in addition to forward bookings indicates that the longer term mature business content is likely to outperform original projections.
“Of course, the SECC business and its importance to Glasgow and Scotland in terms of economic impact and employment generation, has never been about one sector and in that regard, as The SSE Hydro comes to completion we are now also focussing on the existing SECC halls and the replacement of the business that will transfer over to the new arena. Exhibitions and Conferences will play a key role in bringing in new content here and there will be an increased focus on trade fairs. These will help longer term in filling the venue as well as being beneficial for local trade development and wider economic impact through business tourism.
John Sharkey continued:
“Progress on the site of the new arena has continued to make excellent progress and has seen the building work move from a concrete and steel structure to the new façade, services and finishes inside. However, the fire which took place in June of this year was significant and there is still much to do but the client team is continuing to support the main contractor to remediate the damage as we aim for our opening in line with original timescale.
“The business also looks forward to a bumper sporting year in 2014 with the Commonwealth Games which will be the largest event in the history of the SECC, and The World Gymnastics the following year. The SSE Hydro will be a world-class venue and our continued aim this year has been to be ready for its arrival with out deflecting from our core business of delivering fantastic conferences, concerts and events.“
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