The ACC Liverpool Group, home to the BT Convention Centre and a host of other venues in the English city, has achieved its highest annual turnover since opening in 2008.
The venue, also home to the Echo Arena, Exhibition Centre Liverpool, Pullman Liverpool hotel and TicketQuarter, delivered a turnover of £25.8m ($34.5m/€29.1m), compared with £17.2m for the previous 12-month period.
More than 258 events took place, attracting more than 660,000 delegates and visitors, during the same period, for the year ending March 31 2017.
In addition, a total of £204m in economic benefit was generated for the Liverpool city region bringing the overall economic impact since the complex opened to more than £1.4bn.
Events included the Labour Party conference and a series of international congresses, such as the Union World Conference in Lung Health and the European Association for International Education.
Other entertainment events included, Elton John, Little Mix and Strictly Come Dancing, as well as Sports Personality of the Year, the International Business Festival and The Allergy and Free From Show.
Bob Prattey, chief executive of The ACC Liverpool Group, said: “The financial year 2016-17 was a year of rapid expansion for The ACC Liverpool Group with turnover increasing from £17.2m in 2015-16 to £25.8m in 2016-17.
“This was in part due to the first full year of trading for Pullman Liverpool and Exhibition Centre Liverpool, coupled with strong performance and growth in our existing markets, which has been made possible due to the additional space available with the completion of Exhibition Centre Liverpool.
“We are forecasting a further increase in revenues as we continue to expand our business and host major events.
“The operating loss of £582,000 we are reporting for 2016-17 masks an improved underlying trading performance and we expect this to continue to improve during the current year 2017-18.”
Looking forward, The ACC Liverpool is set to host the Liverpool International Horse Show and Celebrating Sgt Pepper: Live which also marks the 10th anniversary of the venue.
In 2018, the BBC Worldwide Showcase will be returning, along with Lyreco and, in September, the Labour Party conference. The International Business Festival will return for a second time in 2018, with future exhibitions to include Liverpool Comic Con, The Gin to my Tonic Show and National Dog Mania.
Prattey added: “2018 is a significant year for us as we celebrate a decade since we opened the doors to our arena and convention centre. We are hosting some fantastic events throughout the year to celebrate this milestone – kicking off with Sgt Pepper: Live on January 13 – alongside this, 2018 will be another busy year of national and international conferences; public and trade exhibitions and entertainment events.
“As a result, we’ll continue to welcome increasing numbers of visitors to our campus and add to the more than £1.4bn in economic impact we’ve generated for the city region since 2008.”
Image: John Lord
Share this