Economic

On the exhibition and event market, the first link in the value chain is the organiser, who needs the appropriate infrastructure for holding their events, together with various additional services, which are referred to as marketing solutions here. The suppliers of these marketing solutions, however, not only provide their services to the organisers but, above all, to the individual actors involved in the events in question (for example, exhibitors at fairs and sponsors for sporting events). The individual players within the value chain are frequently suppliers to the upstream service providers and place orders with the downstream service providers.

Within this value chain, the MCH Group provides a very broad range of services. which can, however, differ greatly from case to case. The MCH Group’s services can fundamentally always be provided by third parties too, and customers are free to choose their suppliers. For MCH exhibitions at the group's own locations, the MCH Group provides the services of organiser and infrastructure operator. For MCH exhibitions at other locations, the group provides solely the services of the organiser. For third-party exhibitions, the MCH Group's services are chiefly restricted to providing the infrastructure.

For both MCH and third-party exhibitions, the MCH Group is also able to provide individual marketing solutions for the exhibiting companies, such as in the field of stand construction. The MCH Group not only provides its live marketing solutions services at exhibitions but is also active in the entire live marketing market, including in other types of corporate events and in the fields of culture and sport.

In cases where the MCH Group itself provides services, the extent to which it makes use of the supplier groups can also vary greatly. With infrastructure, for example, the range of services provided by the MCH Group is concentrated primarily on facility management; the facility services are generally provided by regional suppliers.

The fairgrounds in Basel (since 1917), Lausanne (since 1919) and Zurich (since 1945) are historically anchored in their locations and have developed there over time, accompanied by the corresponding commitment of the public, which is reflected inter alia by the holdings of the local public entities in the MCH Group.

Exhibitions, congresses and events generate a major direct and indirect economic benefit. A number of studies show that exhibitions produce indirect returns that are eight to ten times greater than their own turnover. Only 20 to 25% of the expenditure incurred by an exhibiting company when they participate in an exhibition goes into the exhibition organiser’s coffers. Some 75 to 80 % of the expenditure goes to different suppliers and service providers. This has been shown by a large number of studies on the economic impact of trade fairs.

If the results of these studies are extrapolated to the current figures of the MCH Group, then the following estimates can be derived. Exhibitors and visitors together spend some CHF 3 billion each year on their participation in an MCH Group event at the locations of Basel, Lausanne or Zurich. This expenditure goes to the construction and ancillary industries (20%), the hospitality industry (30%), public transport operators (16%), the retail trade (6%) and different service providers (28%). These initial effects trigger overall sales of some CHF 6 billion as direct and indirect follow-on effects. The associated added value corresponds to around 35,000 jobs and tax income of some CHF 500 million for the confederation, cantons and communes.

There are also other effects that cannot be expressed in figures: in particular the positive impact of successful exhibitions as marketing platforms for the industry in question and the positive impact of successful participation for the exhibiting companies.

At the locations at which exhibitions and congresses are staged, they frequently have a "lighthouse effect" for tourism through their reach and appeal, which are transmitted to the city or country in question. The Basel region, for instance, benefits from the fact that the globally leading events of Baselworld, Art Basel in Basel, Art Basel in Miami Beach and Art Basel in Hong Kong carry the name of their "home city" throughout the world.

The corporate strategy of the MCH Group, which has been consistently pursued for more than ten years now, is aimed at stable and healthy growth. It takes into account the declines in the national exhibition and event market as well as the challenges of digital transformation.

The MCH Group’s growth strategy is focused on the following strategic thrusts:

In the 2017 financial year, the MCH Group implemented and launched a large number of strategic initiatives in order to further diversify, internationalise and digitise its business activity. These included organic initiatives with the launch of Grand Basel, among other things, and also takeovers, with the acquisition of the American MC² group and holdings in Masterpiece London and ART DÜSSELDORF.

The implementation of its strategy is being pursued as the group’s number one priority. The most important strategic initiatives: