Economic results 2015
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business line, and this proportionality is
key to determining net income or EBITDA.
Wide range of services
As mentioned, recent years have seen
a change in the income mix. Fira de Bar-
celona is becoming a global operator for
exhibitors and organisers, providing them
with a huge range of services (stands,
technology and so on) to complete
and perfect their participation or event.
The provision of services and catering,
however, are very different from the mere
“production” of trade shows based on
the hire of space. A increase in the sale of
services and catering necessarily entails
increased expenditure. This trend is signif-
icant in relative terms, though in absolute
terms and compared to years of great ac-
tivity like the last two, 2014 and 2015, the
results obtained in terms of margin and/or
the EBITDA depend to a large extent on
the composition of income.
For this reason (the changing mix in
the composition of income), the EBITDA
can be very different even with similar vol-
umes of business. For example, in 2015,
income was 13.3 million euros, lower than
the figure for 2014 (an exceptional year
when income reached 19.8 million euros)
but clearly higher than levels achieved in
previous years, when the EBITDA was
between 10 and 11 million euros.
Investments approved in 2015, some
of which will be implemented in 2016 or
later, were to the equivalent of 3.1 million
euros. They include 749,000 euros in
improvements to information systems,
particularly a new accreditation system
and the second phase of the CRM, which
was launched in 2014, aimed at optimis-
ing customer service. A further 625,000
euros was devoted to reviewing improv-
ing and automating the entire process of
generating purchase orders, management
and control of supply and purchasing and
monitoring spending in order to obtain the
best information possible management in
the field of catering at Fira de Barcelona,
and 1.6 million euros to improving and
extending venues.
Efficiency: €-Fira
Moreover, we can also mention a project
related to efficiency launched by Fira de
Barcelona in 2015. The €-Fira project
is designed to review all the institution’s
business processes with a goal that goes
beyond reducing costs, as it will also
analyse the cost-benefit ratio of actions
inherent to the fair organisation activity
with a view to improving results.
The €-Fira project is aimed at review-
ing both the management model and the
processes themselves, that is to say, the
operational model. The objective is to
identify more than 70 specific initiatives
to improve the performance of actions
implemented to produce events at the
Fira de Barcelona venues. It is, then, a
global project affecting the entire institu-
tion, led by the Executive Committee and
aimed at ensuring sustainability, since
efficiency must be considered a key value
in the institution’s culture.
150,504
152,629
Income 2011-2015
in thousands of euros
EBITDA 2011-2015
in thousands of euros
2011
114,740
2015
2014
2013
117,831
2012
115,270
2011
11,119
2015
13,296
2014
2013
9,536
2012
11,011
19,865
