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Italian Exhibition Group now sole organiser of Italy’s top gold & jewellery trade shows
The creation of a single show organiser for the entire Italian jewellery and gold industry, a first in the country, was announced in Rome on 9th February. The organisation’s objective is to showcase the output of a sector for which Italian craftsmanship is renowned worldwide. The new group brings together two leading industry operators: the Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), created in November 2016, organiser of the 5 editions of the VicenzaOro show, one in Italy and four abroad; and Arezzo Fiere e Congressi, which manages the OroArezzo show (in May) and the Gold/Italy show (in October), both held in Italy.
"Besides managing VicenzaOro, IEG will also run the organising committee for OroArezzo and Gold/Italy, starting with the 2017 editions," said Corrado Facco, General Manager of IEG. "In addition, in 2019 IEG will be able to exercise an option for purchasing the OroArezzo and Gold/Italy brands, so that Arezzo Fiere e Congressi can be incorporated in IEG," he added, underlining how the value of the operation will be jointly decided.
"This is a historic agreement, unique in representing world-class excellence in jewellery. Italy has the lead in international jewellery design, technology and production," said Andrea Boldi, the President of Arezzo Fiere e Congressi and of Confartigianato Sezione Orafi, the goldsmith section of Italy's national artisans association. "This will provide an opportunity for expansion abroad to all those small-sized companies, the majority in Italy, which do not have the means to single-handedly enter new markets" he added.
"We quickly realised that having one single leadership would generate extra value," said Matteo Marzotto, Executive Vice-President of IEG. He expressed satisfaction at how quickly and easily an agreement was found between Fiera di Vicenza [the former organiser of VicenzaOro] and IEG's President Lorenzo Cagnoni, whose vision he shares.
"The gold and jewellery industry is a key sector for Italy's economy, with over 10,000 employees and thousands of companies spread across five industrial districts. Its revenue in 2015 topped the €7 billion mark, over 85% of which came from exports," said Corrado Facco to FashionNetwork.com, adding how in the first 10 months of 2016 industry exports were already worth €4.8 billion.
Still looking at 2015 figures, the industry brings a positive margin of €4.2 billion to Italy's balance of payments, and it is one of the backbones of the country's fashion and luxury goods sectors. "Italy's gold and jewellery products are recognised worldwide for their creativity, design, technology innovation and high quality. The agreement [with Arezzo Fiere e Congressi] means IEG will manage about €30 million in revenue through the gold and jewellery sector alone," said Facco.
IEG's President Cagnoni confirmed that the group is planning for a stock exchange listing in spring next year.
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