Emerald Says It's Committed to Trade Show Calendar in 2021's 2nd Half

CEDIA Expo owner Emerald Holding had an 87% revenue drop to $12.9 million in Q1 on continued impact from COVID-19, said the company Friday. Net loss narrowed to $15.3 million from $570.1 million. The trade show company canceled 13 of 14 shows in Q1.

Surf Expo was held in January in Orlando with a 50% decline in attendance vs. 2020, said CEO Herve Sedky on a Friday earnings call. There were no reported COVID-19 cases from the event, said Sedky. He reported positive feedback from exhibitors and a high buyer-to-exhibitor ratio. Emerald expects full resumption of its trade show event calendar beginning in summer, said Sedky, pointing out the “tens of millions” of Americans who have been vaccinated, plus announcements of states reopening, including Nevada, California and New York. Florida and Texas are “fully open for business,” he noted.

The outlook for attendance at Emerald shows “remains uncertain and could well be challenged near term even for events we do stage with a lingering impact of COVID-19,” said Sedky, though the company is encouraged by events in Asia where recovery “seems further along.” The company’s focus is “to ensure that we stage successful shows for customers” and provide “a safe environment,” Sedky said, promising “the highest safety standards possible.” CEDIA Expo is scheduled for Sept. 1-3 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

To date, Emerald has canceled 108 events due to the pandemic, 94 scheduled for 2020, representing $230.6 million of 2019 revenue, and 14 scheduled for this year, representing $71.2 million of 2020 revenue, said the company. It submitted $167 million in insurance claims for 2020 canceled events and received $121.1 million: $89.2 million last year, $31.9 million this year. It submitted an additional $52.9 million in claims for events not held in first half 2021.

Emerald filed a breach of contract complaint in Federal District Court in Orange County, California, against W.R. Berkley and Great Lakes Insurance, saying the insurers “acted in bad faith and failed to timely pay amounts due and owing on submitted claims.” Under the complaint (in Pacer, docket cv-00340), Emerald is seeking to "enforce its rights under the policies to receive the maximum applicable coverage for the 2020 and 2021 event cancellations, postponements and reductions, and to receive court-ordered payment on all outstanding submissions for 2020 and 2021 events." Berkley and Great Lakes didn’t comment Friday.