Events company behind Wimbledon sees revenues increase 19 per cent

An international events company has today announced that its revenues have risen by 19 per cent despite the impact of coronavirus.

Arena Events Group, which is based in London and is responsible for events such as Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup, reported that its revenues increased by 19 per cent from £135m to £160.6m in the twelve months to 31 March.

However, it also saw an operating loss of £13.1m, after a goodwill impairment of £16.1m

In the wake of coronavirus, the company switched its focus from sporting events and mass gatherings to temporary hospitals and drive-through test centres.

Greg Lawless, CEO of Arena Events Group, commented: “The results to the end of March 2020 reflect a solid performance with no new acquisitions during the period, a focus on consolidating the 2018 acquisitions as well as delivering operational improvements in both the US and UK divisions.

“The progress made over the last eighteen months meant that we were looking forward to a record performance in the 2020/21 financial year, based on a strong, efficient operational base as well as the prospects of delivering a number of very high-profile events, including the Ryder Cup, the Tokyo Olympics alongside our roster of longstanding, annual contracted events such as Wimbledon and the PGA Tour.

“However, since March, the world for mass gatherings at sporting events has been decimated with no large-scale gatherings of any kind anywhere in the world since April - and these restrictions are likely to continue for the most part of 2020.

“Our business has had to react quickly to this dramatic and changing environment with little or no sport event revenues from March of this year.

“Our first priority has been to protect the health and well-being of our colleagues and customers, and we have implemented strict guidelines on working within accepted social distancing practices.

“We have also had to take swift and decisive action to reset our operational cost base to match the significantly reduced revenue profile.

“We also adapted by switching our focus to delivering solutions such as temporary hospitals and drive through test centres which were an enormous boost to the April and May revenues.

“This type of revenue has now reduced and our focus over the next few months will be on managing our cost base and cash resources to extend the runway of the business into 2021 and beyond.

“We have been fortunate to have secured financial support from our shareholders and our bank HSBC which, coupled with our “Press Pause” plan, puts us in a relatively strong position to withstand the impact of the lost revenues for the remainder of this year, with the hope that we see a return to mass gatherings at sporting events in early 2021.”