The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow has announced strong permances from conferences and events and reported a pre-tax profit of £1.4m and an earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of £2.5m, well ahead of expectations and £1m up on a like for like pre-tax basis.
Turnover for the group was reported at £29.5m, an increase of nine per cent on the previous year. The figures were boosted by new commercial income streams and a final account generated for the completion of the car park development on site.
The Scotsman newspaper reported on 25 July, however, that SECC Chief Executive, John Sharkey, took a 13 per cent pay cut despite the return to profit at the venue. SECC is majority owned by the City Council which last year commissioned Deloitte to review what some critics had claimed was a confusing system of pay incentives and bonuses for top executives.
The SECC is set to play a big role during next year’s Commonwealth Games, although the timely completion of the SSE Hydro, the venue’s new £125m Arena, is threatened by a fire in its roof last month.
Rod Stewart is due to be the first act on the new stage at the Arena on 30 September, although the opening on time could go to the wire, management admitted.
Sharkey has projected a jump in EBITDA to over £9.5m in 2014/15 on the back of the Commonwealth Games and said sponsorship and hospitality revenues from the Hydro will be nearly £2m in 2013/14 and just under £3.5m in 2014/15. He added the SECC’s sponsorship contracts for the Hydro were worth nearly £2.7m, nine times the original target.
The Chief Executive added that the economic impact would increase by £130m a year after the Hydro is opened.
Sharkey noted the SECC’s QD Events unit had enjoyed a near-£400,000 improvement in its bottom-line permance. QD puts on events including the Irn-Bru Carnival, the Scottish Caravan, Motorhome & Holiday Home Show, and the Scottish Wedding Show.
The SEC Ltd’s ticketSOUP business, which sells tickets for concerts at venues including Hampden Park as well as events at the SECC, was hit during the year to March by a reduction in stadium tours caused by the London 2012 Olympics.
More subdued concert business for the SECC in the year to March, was also attributed to the Olympics.
The SECC still hopes to attract a 200-bedroom hotel development on the east side of the Hydro, next to the new car park.
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