One of Southern Nevada’s top convention contractors overachieved in the second quarter, driving higher earnings for Phoenix-based Viad Corp.
Global Experience Specialists, the Las Vegas-based Marketing and Events Group subsidiary of Viad, helped drive a 15.5 percent increase in operating income for the division for the quarter that ended June 30.
Viad operates convention services businesses in the North America, Great Britain, Germany and the United Arab Emirates, with GES as its main division in the United States. The company also has a smaller Travel and Recreation Division that runs nine hotels and lodges in Canada and Alaska.
Viad on Friday reported net income of $6.1 million, or 30 cents a share, on revenue of $246.4 million, compared with income of $4.5 million, or 22 cents a share, on revenue of $238.7 million during the same quarter a year earlier.
While company executives applauded the performance of both divisions, it was improvement in the Marketing and Events Group that drove most of the growth. The GES division had revenue of $165.5 million, compared with $150.2 million during the second quarter of 2011.
The North American division outshined declines in the European sector that resulted from negative show rotation –- some of the conventions and meetings it had in 2011 were at other venues or didn’t meet in 2012 –- and an unfavorable currency exchange rate.
Steve Moster, president of GES in Las Vegas, said because a large percentage of the division’s business occurs in Southern Nevada, same-show growth has been a key to GES’ expansion. The quarter was the eighth consecutive quarter of growth within the division.
“It’s a trend of the industry coming back and the growth pattern has been a long one,” said Moster, who was appointed president of the division in November 2010.
GES measures growth by the amount of convention space serviced, the number of exhibitors and the number of convention attendees accommodated.
While GES drove much of Viad’s quarterly growth, a big chunk of it didn’t occur in Las Vegas. Viad president, chairman and CEO Paul Dykstra explained that some of the growth could be attributed to the company’s signing last year of the American Wind Energy Association’s Windpower Conference and Exhibition, which was staged in June in Atlanta. The new show helped GES overcome negative show rotation.
“The GES team was successful in achieving revenue growth, despite negative show rotation of $9 million, and in driving more revenue to the bottom line through diligent labor management, tight control of discretionary spending and efforts to optimize our U.S. service delivery network,” Dykstra said.
Moster said the outlook is good, particularly in Las Vegas, for the third quarter.
ASD Las Vegas, a merchandising exhibition, is scheduled at the Las Vegas Convention Center Aug. 12 to 15 and MAGIC Marketplace, a fashion exhibition, arrives there Aug. 20 to 23.
The biggest boom for the quarter will be MINExpo, a major trade show for the mining industry, at the Convention Center Sept. 24 to 26.
Moster said MINExpo, which meets every four years, will cover 850,000 square feet with 1,800 exhibitors, making it one of the largest conventions of the year. Massive land-moving machines and mining equipment will be shipped from around the world to Las Vegas for the show, which takes seven weeks to set up.