ACC Liverpool, home to BT Convention Centre and Echo Arena, has reported post-tax profit of £271,000 for the year to 31 March 2012, a small increase of £17,000 over the equivalent period to 31 March 2011.
The figure was achieved in the context of an 11 per cent decrease in turnover to £12.9m.
ACC Liverpool is forecasting that revenue in the next financial year will return to previous levels of more than £14m seen in 2010-11.
Chief Executive Bob Prattey said the profit came following the venue’s focus on streamlining costs.
“2011-12 was another year of positive development for ACC Liverpool in the face of challenges presented by the poor economic climate,” said Prattey who described the association conference market continues “as the bedrock upon which BT Convention Centre’s business is based”. He noted the corporate market continued 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,” Prattey added.
In 2011-12, ACC Liverpool held a total of 182 events and welcomed 585,000 visitors.
Convention highlights included the Labour Party autumn conference in September 2011, BBC Worldwide Showcase and the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.
Prattey reported that ACC Liverpool had generated a total of £610m in economic benefit to the city since opening in 2008.
The convention centre has 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 management expects to contribute £40m per year to the city region after it opens in 2015.
It will be used to stage both trade and consumer exhibitions, as well as large national and international conferences with attached exhibitions, large scale banquets and concerts with a standing capacity of 10,000.
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