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Peter Ottmann, CEO of NürnbergMesse Group: “Despite global crises and a persistently challenging market environment, the NürnbergMesse Group continues its growth trajectory with its exhibitions, congresses, and corporate events. Even in 2025, an odd-numbered year with a cyclically lighter events schedule, the company remains profitable. Our international business and expanded event-adjacent services have performed extremely well. Even in a challenging economic environment, we expect record-breaking sales of around €375 million for the 2026 trade fair year.”
In fiscal 2025, the NürnbergMesse Group achieved sales revenues of €345.5 million (€265.1 million in 2023) with its 158 events worldwide (177 in 2023), an operating result before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of €41 million (€28.4 million in 2023) and for the first time since the pandemic, and in an odd-numbered year with a lighter event cycle, a consolidated net income of €2.2 million (-€1.1 million in 2023). At 38%, the largest share of sales continues to be from the company’s own and partner events in Germany, followed by event-adjacent services at 24%, the international business at 21%, and guest events at 17%.
The event-related KPIs are also impressive and reflect growth across all facets compared with 2023, which is a better point of comparison. Around 1.5 million visitors (+15%) gathered alongside 31,732 exhibitors (+12.8%) on a total exhibition space of some 1.1 million square meters (+21.6%).
Headcount
The average number of employees increased slightly yet again to 1,267 in the NürnbergMesse Group (1,181 in 2024) and 601 in NürnbergMesse GmbH (590 in 2024). The NürnbergMesse Group currently employs 61 people in vocational training and dual-study programmes (in cooperation with DHBW Ravensburg), as well as eight graduate trainees, and is thus continuing to invest in the training and support of its own future workforce.
Strong product range with high international relevance
In 2025, exhibitions from the NürnbergMesse security cluster, like Enforce Tac (security and defence), it-sa (IT security) and Perimeter Protection (building security) were especially popular. The significant international demand testifies to the global relevance of the events in Nuremberg: in 2025, almost half of all exhibitors (10,470; +14.6%) and around a quarter of visitors (175,206; +12.7%) came from outside Germany.
Services for exhibitors
Trade show-related service packages are becoming increasingly important, so NürnbergMesse is systematically expanding the range of services it offers. The new e-commerce platform is an important tool for the digitalisation of exhibitor processes. The platform was used for the first time in conjunction with FENSTERBAU FRONTALE and processed around 2,000 orders, offering exhibitors a wide range of services including stand construction, stand furniture, security, power and water connections, advertising, and technical equipment.
Record investments in sustainable exhibition grounds
In 2025, NürnbergMesse launched a modernisation programme for the exhibition centre. Over the next ten years, the company will invest over half a billion euros in the exhibition grounds, the portfolio of events, digital products, and sustainability. Despite the generally challenging underlying conditions, the exhibition company remains committed to its planned investments. “If we consider the years 2024 to 2026, we have an average investment rate of 19 percent, placing us among the top exhibition venues in Germany and the rest of Europe that are making substantial investments in the future of their business models,” says Dirk Blum, CFO of the NürnbergMesse Group.
In May 2026, the exhibition company opened its new NXT74 employee centre, which offers modern workspaces within sight of the trade fair operations. The building was not newly built but comprehensively refurbished, which reduced CO2 emissions by around 60%. In accordance with the criteria of the DGNB (German Society for Sustainable Building), numerous sustainability aspects were considered – from reduced resource use to energy supply and disabled access.
NürnbergMesse achieved another sustainability milestone with the commissioning of the 100th EV charging station on its exhibition grounds. As a result, visitors to the exhibition now have more than 200 EV charging points at their disposal. The expansion of the PV system on the roofs of the exhibition halls is also forging ahead. The system, which on completion will be the largest PV system in Bavaria on the roofs of companies in which the Bavarian government has a stake, is already achieving a generation capacity of around 7.6 MWp, close to the planned target of 8.3 MWp.
2026: trade fair business continues despite crises
Despite the Iran war and associated restrictions in international travel, the trade fairs continued to welcome a strong contingent of international participants in the first half of 2026. Interzoo (organised by Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Zoologischer Fachbetriebe) ranked first with an international exhibitor share of 87%. Enforce Tac, Germany’s leading fair for security and defence, which has become the key European platform for internal and external security, also broke records: 26,500 visitors in 2026 reflected a year-on-year growth rate of 42%. An event that began with just a single hall in 2012 will bring the industry together in March 2027 in a total of ten halls for the first time. The it-sa Expo&Congress, Europe’s largest exhibition for cybersecurity, GalaBau (gardening and landscaping), Chillventa (HVAC), and automation show SPS (organised by Mesago Messe Frankfurt) are also reporting strong exhibitor registrations for the autumn trade fair season.
Outlook
For the full year 2026, NürnbergMesse is expecting sales revenues of around €375 million, despite the existing uncertainties. This figure represents a record high in the company’s 52-year history.