Boat Show home sees profits hit £31.1m high water mark

PRE-TAX profits at Excel, the exhibition centre in London that is home to the Boat Show, rose by 22.7pc to a record £31.1m in the year to Dec 31, 2017 after it hosted a string of new events.

At 100,000 sq metres, (119,600 sq yds) Excel is London’s biggest exhibition centre making it a magnet for large shows. In 2017 it added the world’s largest gathering of Alzheimer’s researchers to its roster and for the first time was home to the annual congress of sports regulator the International Association of Athletics Federations. It also benefited from hosting one of its biggest events – the biennial DSEI arms fair – which took place last year.

The new events helped to boost revenue by 13.9pc to a new high of £84.2m. It outstripped the 9.1pc increase in costs to £38.5m with one of the biggest single expenses being the £13.1m paid to its 197 staff.

Excel is owned by the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company. In 2008 it borrowed £152m from the National Bank of Abu Dhabi to fund the construction of an extension which opened in 2010. At the end of last year £55.6m was still outstanding and a further £89.4m was owed to group companies.

Excel paid a total of £3.3m of interest on its loans last year and invested £3m in its fixtures and fittings. The venue itself is valued at £269.9m, a 52.5pc increase on what it was worth when its doors swung open in November 2000.

“The company continues to perform strongly” said Excel’s chairman Kevin Murphy. However, he cautioned that “the market is highly competitive”.

“Competition for international events is influenced by the support that many competing venues, particularly in mainland Europe, receive from public funds,” he said.

“A serious risk that the company faces is that one or more of Excel London’s key events is lost to a competitor or ceases to take place.”