Driven by strong sales at home and abroad in 2012, Messe Frankfurt will be the first German trade show organizer to pass the €500 million sales mark, according to company officials.

“We expect to generate sales of around €538 million – the highest ever in the history of our group to date,” said Wolfgang Marzin, Messe Frankfurt’s president and CEO.

He added, “Thanks to hard work and a little luck, we were able to better our planned levels by almost €40 million.”

The 2012 sales are a 15-percent increase, compared with last year, with new record levels of sales being achieved in both Germany and in foreign markets.

“With €169 million, we succeeded once again in increasing our operating business outside Germany by a substantial 28 percent, compared with 2011, which was the previous record year,” Marzin said.

For 2012, Messe Frankfurt generated an estimated 31 percent of its group sales abroad.

With an extensive global portfolio, Messe Frankfurt’s international events also performed well.

New records were set this year, with some 33,000 exhibitors and more than 1.2 million visitors at Messe Frankfurt’s international events. The 68 foreign events that were held included 12 new trade shows making their debut, including in Russia, China and India.

“In 2012, we built on our international competitive position by means of our strategy of concentrating on Frankfurt and key world markets,” Marzin said.

Messe Frankfurt’s home-based 2012 shows, a total of 35 trade fairs and exhibitions, attracting more than 41,800 exhibitors and around 1.6 million visitors.

The number of visitors is lower than in the previous year because the IAA International Motor Show, which is held at Messe Frankfurt every two years, was not scheduled to take place in 2012.

Messe Frankfurt also expanded its service and convention business with the launch of the Dexperty, which unifies all of the company’s digital offerings under one brand.

“In the coming years, our digital services and products will move away from the role of primarily supporting analog trade fair business and come into the spotlight as event-independent products”, said Klaus Reinke who, as a member of the Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH management, is responsible for the business segment New Business, among other things.

Messe Frankfurt is pursuing a "forward-looking strategy of operating successfully in the digital market, alongside its core competence," company officials added.

Digital products, such as exhibitors’ online presentations on the event Web sites, as well as groundbreaking apps and other offerings, are provided as support to the trade shows.

“But we are going far beyond this,” said Kai Hattendorf, who is building up and leading the independent Digital Business segment as division manager.

He added, “With our Business Matching portals, we are creating, for instance, year-round platforms for product presentation, communication and networking.”

A key goal moving forward into 2013 is optimizing the company’s brand strategy and business practices, according to Marzin, which includes concentrating personnel, financial resources and capital on Frankfurt and on growth regions with selected key markets.

“In spite of our good market position – and also becauseof it – we need to work on efficiency and integration within the Messe Frankfurt Group,” he added.