The month at a glance
The stories , topics and trends making headlines in recent weeks .
Carbon platform
Event sustainability body Isla has launched its carbon measurement platform , Trace , which captures emission and waste data from live , hybrid and digital events .
After two years of development , Trace will generate reports in real time and allow event planners to measure and reduce carbon emissions across a range of factors .
The platform will provide details on emissions from venue energy , travel and accommodation , production and graphics materials , food and beverage emissions , transport logistics and waste and recycling .
Isla co-founder Ben Quarrell said the organisation will onboard 100 companies across April , May and June before opening Trace for wider release in July .
Early adopters of Trace include IMEX Group , Momentum Worldwide , SAP , The Creative Engagement Group and ITV .
First Musical Con
The UK ’ s first musical theatre fan convention will be held at ExCeL . Musical Con , which takes place from 22-23 October , will see thousands of theatre enthusiasts come together for a weekend-long celebration of musicals . Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the stars , celebrate the shows , and learn from professionals .
The event will feature a cosplay competition , fan meetups , musical lip-sync battles and show sing-alongs . Musical Con will be organised by West End Musical Productions with the support of the Society of London Theatre ( SOLT ).
Ambassadors for the event are West End superstars Aimie Atkinson , Kerry Ellis , Alice Fearn , Ben Forster , Jodie Steele , Trevor Dion Nicholas , Omari Douglas , Shanay Holmes , Jenna Russell and Layton Williams . More than 30 special guests have also been announced .
MAG hits £ 10.2m EBITDA profit
B2B media , information and event group , Mark Allen Group posted audited results for 2020-21 which the company ’ s founder and executive chairman , Mark Allen ( pictured ), describes as “ exceptional ”.
Although turnover dropped from £ 54.6m to £ 43 . m , EBITDA increased 21.6 %, from £ 8.4m to £ 10.2m , and profit before taxation rose from £ 5m to £ 6.1m .
“ Given that this was the first year of the pandemic and we were not able to organise any live events – nearly a third of our revenue – our performance was exceptional . It is a tremendous credit to our entire team , led by CEO Ben Allen , for the way that everyone pulled together to deliver such magnificent results ,” Mark Allen said .
“ We were helped enormously by the acquisition of Farmers Weekly which we completed just before the pandemic struck and which has proved a brilliant purchase for us . The government ’ s job retention scheme was a godsend , but we managed to bring back to full employment nearly all the 156 people we initially furloughed .”
Allen said that the performance for 2021-22 would be more impressive with turnover expected to be close to £ 60m and EBITDA £ 13m .
“ It ’ s very hard to know what ’ s around the corner and how the year will pan out . One thing I know for sure is that our staff will do everything they can to ensure that we keep on growing and succeeding ,” he added .
06 — June