dmg Sells Its California Gift Show
Event planner Merchandise Mart Properties will buys the B2B asset.
May 11, 2009
dmg world media, a trade show event planner, has sold one of its events, the California gift show to its Chicago, Illinois-based competitor, Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.
dmg world media, based in Toronto, Ontario, is a division of Daily Mail & General Trust plc., the London-based business to business media company. The spin-off will for the first of a series of divestitures of dmg’s assets. The company plans to spin-off the remaining West coast and Canadian gift shows.
Faced with declining revenue in the B-to-B industry, dmg has been one of several casualties in the sector. Last week, Viad Corp, an industry trade show planner, reported a 91 percent decline in earnings from last year. Overall, B-to-B media company trade shows declined 18.5% in the last quarter of 2008 from a year earlier, according to American Business Media.
The California gift show was purchased as part of dmg’s 1996 takeover of San Fernando, California’s Southex.
The Toronto-based event planner now says it wants to focus on trade markets and will steer focus away from consumer products and events like the California gift show.
Mike Cooke, chief executive of dmg said, “We have been successful thus far in finding buyers who see value in these products, which are no longer a strategic fit for dmg world media, but still have great potential in their regional or niche markets.”
As of midday Monday, Daily Mail & General Trust stock traded at $343.75 per share, from $356.00 at Friday’s close.
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