Fondazione Fiera Milano’s financial statements for 2010 approved
Milan, 27 June 2011 – The Board of Governors, chaired by Gianpiero C. Cantoni, has approved Fondazione Fiera Milano’s financial statements ending 31 December 2010.
During the past financial year, Fondazione was committed to optimizing ordinary activities by placing the utmost attention on cost control and investments through the application of conscientious management practices, closing the period with a profit of 3,707 million Euros, after taxes and without extraordinary items.
Pursuant to a change in the Articles of Incorporation approved by the Board of Governors on 26th February 2010, modifying the closing date of the fiscal year from June 30 to December 31 of each year, the financial year that has just ended lasted 18 months,
It is worth pointing out that in the previous fiscal year Fondazione Fiera Milano finalized the transfer of its brands branch, generating a surplus before tax of 57.9 million Euros which had a direct effect on the extraordinary items of the P&L account for the period ending 30 June 2009.
In the previous financial year, Fondazione had set aside a €40 million “crisis fund” for Fiera Milano Spa aimed at co-participation in initiatives designed to safeguard and promote the presence of SMEs at exhibitions, strengthen the market leadership of Fiera Milano Spa as well as cost containment and optimization.
The report that accompanies the financial statements describes the main steps of the activity carried out during the 1 July 2009 – 31 December 2010 period, broken down into the following areas:
- Fondazione Fiera Milano and Fiera Milano Spa governance relations;
- company policy and management;
- activities by shareholdings (companies and bodies);
- Expo 2015 sites;
- relations with the Lombardy Regional Government, as the Supervisory Authority for Fondazione’s activities;
- real estate business and activities pertaining to the transformation of the exhibition system;
- development and enhancement of its sites.
The 2010 financial statements show net assets of 612 million Euros and investments in the period of more than 71 million Euros, pursuant to the decisions made by previous Fondazione’s Boards of Governors and accrued as an expense commitment in this fiscal year. More specifically, investments were made to complete the office buildings, create a parking system and landscape the public green areas in the fieramilano Rho district, and to develop the MiCo-Milano Congressi project, Europe’s largest congress center in fieramilanocity, and the first project completed for Expo 2015 and for the City of Milan.
“Fondazione Fiera Milano’s 2010 fiscal year – stated Gianpiero C. Cantoni – is an important step in the history of Ente Autonomo Fiera Internazionale di Milano after a decade of making infrastructural investments in Milan’s trade fair and congress system, which are now drawing to completion, and with new challenges for the competitive repositioning of the exhibition system, aimed at a better governance of all its controlled and affiliated companies, as well as a new phase of re-focusing its business purpose".
“This financial statement – Chairman and CEO Cantoni ended – provides a full picture of the changes in management practice (restructuring of costs-revenues) and new strategies (aimed at improving the efficiency and efficacy of the trade fair-congress system) by Fondazione, with the new mandate of the directors in office”.
The approval of this financial statement opens a new phase in the role and overall positioning of Fondazione and of Milan’s trade fair-congress activity, in order to have a more sustainable trade fair infrastructure in the current economic-social context and more effective institutional governance for the entire Fondazione Fiera Milano and Fiera Milano Spa Group company structure.