Revenue slips 11% at Liverpool ACC

THE sluggish conference and events market dented income at Liverpool’s Arena and Convention Centre last year.

The venue, home to BT Convention Centre and Echo Arena, hosted around 182 events for 585,000 people during the year to the end of March, including Sir Paul McCartney, Rihanna, Peter Kay, Bishop, and X-Factor auditions.

But revenue slipped 11% to £12.9m largely due to fewer corporate bookings at the convention centre. Nonetheless it still hosted the Labour Party autumn conference in September 2011, BBC Worldwide Showcase and the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.

According to figures released by the venue, which have not yet been filed at Companies House, post-tax profits for the period were up by £17,000 to £271,000.

Chief executive Bob Prattey said: “2011-12 was another year of positive development for ACC Liverpool in the face of challenges presented by the poor economic climate.
 
“Our latest financial figures reflect the cyclical nature of the events and conference business. The association conference market continues to act as the bedrock upon which BT Convention Centre’s business is based and, whilst we have made a significant impact in the corporate market, this sector continues to be affected by the global recession.
 
“Despite this, we were able to achieve a positive outcome by managing event costs and overheads while maintaining the highest levels of customer service delivery.”

He added: “As we head into our sixth year, we expect to return to the level of turnover experienced previously. We have now generated a total of £610m in economic benefit to the city since opening in 2008 which will continue to rise as we have many terrific events across the venue confirmed for next year. We have built on the progress of our business of previous years and have established a solid platform for our further development.”
 
The convention centre has already confirmed 21 repeat events for 2013 including BBC Worldwide Showcase, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and Swinton Group. Plans for 2013 also include the start on site next autumn for the venue’s new exhibition facility – Exhibition Centre Liverpool – which is expected to contribute an estimated £40m per year to the city region after it opens in 2015. 

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