CEDIA Expo Owner Hopes Vaccines Bring Return of Physical Shows in 2nd Half

CEDIA Expo producer Emerald Holding reported a 73% year-on-year plunge in Q4 revenue, to $12.2 million, and a 65% falloff, to $127.4 million, for pandemic-plagued 2020. Declines were partially offset by claim payments received under the company’s event cancellation insurance policy, said the company Thursday.

Emerald canceled 19 events in Q4 for a total of 94 for the year, including CEDIA Expo. The company is pursuing collection of remaining unpaid filed insurance claims for its canceled 2020 events, plus claims for its canceled 2021 events, said Chief Financial Officer David Doft on a Thursday earnings call. It has submitted $167.4 million in claims, the net amount of budgeted gross revenue, minus avoided costs, for affected or canceled events scheduled for 2020; it has received $107 million. An additional $5.3 million in insurance claim payments was recently approved and is pending receipt, Doft said.

Emerald doesn’t expect pandemic coverage for canceled trade shows beyond 2021, said Doft. Renewal cycles beyond this year are “slower than usual.” The company is in discussions with its insurance broker about extending insurance beyond 2021, but it would be a “more normal … cancellation-type policy that we’d be able to get,” Doft said in Q&A. Emerald holds $191.4 million in event cancellation insurance policies for 2021.

Emerald held two events -- November's International Gift Exposition in the Smokies in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, with a 50% year-on-year revenue decline, and Surf Expo in Orlando last month with “similar dynamics,” said Doft. The trade show company canceled the remainder of its scheduled Q1 events, and many Q2 events have been postponed until later in the year, he said. The company hopes the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines will allow more activities in second half 2021.

The acquisition of software-as-a-service company PlumRiver will help Emerald expand its digital presence, said CEO Herve Sedky on his first earnings call since joining Emerald Jan. 5 from Reed Exhibitions. The purchase adds a transactional element to live events and trade publications that “allows us to see the entire cycle and observe what customer behavior is” for supplier discovery and lead generation, he said. Emerald is scaling the business-to-business marketplace to support “year-round commerce and product discovery,” he said.

In the past, non-trade show revenue was about 10% of Emerald's annual revenue. The company hopes to grow that to 20%-30% with additional offerings resulting from the PlumRiver buy and future acquisitions, Doft said.

Emerald has seen early signs of a "comeback" in trade show interest, said Sedky. The company is “poised to return as the pandemic begins to recede” and trade shows begin to stage again, he said. He cited a “vital role that face-to-face events play” in spurring connections, commerce and growth for customers and communities.