U.K. conferences and exhibitions not likely to resume from October 1

 Thursday, September 24, 2020 

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently confirmed that conferences and exhibitions will not be allowed to run from October 1, as previously decided. However, it has been mentioned that any event involving up to 30 individuals can continue. The Prime Minister also confirmed that the ruling would be place in for six months, and that the U.K. is currently at COVID Level 4.

Prime Minister Johnson addressed the House of Commons and said that it must be acknowledged that the spread of the virus is affecting the ability to reopen business conferences and exhibitions and large sporting events, and hence the U.K. would not be able to forward towards the October 1 reopening. The decision arrived following events giant Informa’s announcement about a pre-tax loss of £739.9m in its financial results for the six-months that ended June 30, 2020.

The group updated on its ongoing actions to ensure stability and security through 2021, amid continuing COVID-19 disruption and an extension of event postponements into spring 2021.The results for H1 showed an adjusted operating profit of £118.6m (H1 2019: £435.7m) on revenues of £814.4m (H1 2019: £1,407.6m), amid significant pandemic-impact on the physical events business, pandemic non-cash impairments and exceptional costs that impacted the overall loss.

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