News this week: UBM to keep all Canon print titles

London, 1^st November: According to an article published by Folio, United Business Media (UBM) does not plan to shut down any of the 24 print publications the company acquired through the purchase of Canon Communications last month.

A UBM spokesperson was quoted saying that Canon’s non-electronic magazines will follow the same approach as the one used to manage all the other UBM titles under the renamed UBM Canon publishing group.

According to the Folio article, UBM has closed 35 print titles since the beginning of 2009, bringing the total of print magazines published worldwide by UBM to 106 titles. UBM reported a 15% drop in print sales to about US$164 million in the first nine months of 2010. Adjusted operating profit from print was approximately US$6 million – up from US$2 million during the same period in 2009.

News this week: Shanghai World Expo records 73 million visitors

Shanghai, 31^st October: The Shanghai World Expo, which closed on 31^st October, officially recorded more than 73 million visitors in the duration of 184-day event. A total of 246 countries and international organisations took part in the event – setting a new record for the World Expo visitors. The next World Expo will be held in Milan, Italy, in 2015.

News this week: HKCEC reports “capacity plus” utilisation

Hong Kong, 1^st November: The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) has reported what it termed “capacity plus” during three consecutive weeks of exhibitions in October.

The venue reported the licensing of a total 1,706,817 m² of exhibition space over a 22 day period, which includes the move in and out days. Venue space occupied averaged 78,000 m² per day against the HKCEC’s 66,000 m² of indoor exhibition capacity.

The five trade shows running during the three weeks included the HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition), electronic Asia, Mega Show Part 1, HKTDC Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Autumn Edition), and Mega Show Part 2.

News this week: Melbourne CEC to expand

Melbourne, 29^th October: The expansion of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) has been approved by the local government. An additional 12,000 m² of exhibition space will be integrated into the existing Melbourne Exhibition Centre (30,000 m²) and the Melbourne Convention Centre (5,500 m²).

News this week: China Publishing Group completes Shanghai IPO

Shanghai, 28^th October: China South Publishing and Media Group, a state-owned Hunan-based company involved with the printing, publishing and distribution of various media, has completed its initial public offering in Shanghai raising an estimated US$264 million.

Founded in December 2008, China Publishing Group follows a series of mainland publishers venturing into the capital markets such as Time Publishing and Media Group, and Xinhua Media. The company issued a total of 398 million shares at a price of RMB10.66 (US$1.6) per share with a PE ratio of 41. The listing was on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The stock closed at the end of the first day at RBM13.80.

RMB appreciation and B2B exhibitions

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports today that "Stronger yuan bites into trade fair receipts."

According to the SCMP, fear of a stronger yuan combined with increasing commodity and labour costs had an effect on the recent Canton Fair.

The only evidence the SCMP cites is a 2.3% dip in visitors compared to the April edition - of course, this change could have been the result of a wide range of factors. In addition, most organisers would be quite pleased with 199,266 visitors.

The SCMP, however, is not alone in thinking about this issue. In September, Global Sources released a survey of 239 Chinese exporters. Close to 70% of the respondents said that they expect (Chinese) exports to decline if the yuan appreciates. 32% expect their business to be negatively impacted even if the yuan only appreciates 1%-2%.

These fears seem overdone. Where are buyers from the U.S. and Europe going to shift their orders? Perhaps Indonesia or Vietnam. But switching manufacturers comes with costs - especially if the manufacturer is in another country. Buyers are unlikely to make such a drastic move because of a 2% or 3% increase in the value of the yuan. In the end, China's manufacturing capacity has become so massive, there is no real alternative to China.

It is true that the largest buyers from Europe and the U.S. have already hedged their bets by setting-up some alternative manufacturing bases outside of China. For those large buyers, switching is easier, but that is unlikely to have a material impact on B2B exhibitions which are visited by buyers of all sizes.

In the last decade, China has become the manufacturing base for the rest of the world and in support of that it now has a portfolio of 500+ B2B exhibitions. Vietnam and Indonesia have less than 50 trade fairs. A stronger yuan may help drive some growth in those markets, but it is likely to be incremental growth - not at the expense China's trade fairs. We expect net sqm sold at Chinese B2B exhibitions to lead the region in 2010 and 2011 - despite the inevitable appreciation of the yuan.