One in three companies in the UK exhibition services industry is running at a loss, highlighting the ongoing effect of tough economic conditions, a new report claims.
 
The new survey of 652 companies in the exhibition services space by Plimsoll Publishing in June found 221 are loss-making, with 120 making losses for the second or third year in a row.
 
“They are simply selling at prices their business cannot sustain,” report author David Pattison claimed. “They have put off making the painful decision that more prudent companies made a while ago.
 
“No one wants to trim costs, lay off staff, cancel dividend payments and the like but carrying on regardless is now unviable. They can no longer bury their heads in the sand.”
 
Pattison predicted a number of failures among the companies it identified as they ran out of time and cash.
 
“More and more companies are making a loss for the first time in their history. Many can rightly claim to be victims of difficult trading conditions,” Pattison continued. “A quick refocus on profitability would ensure this is an isolated occurrence.”
 
Despite this concern, a report from Plimsoll in February found the number of companies making a loss in the UK exhibition industry had fallen over the past year from a high of 307. The analyst group also reported 60 “high-profit” companies were averaging 20 per cent profit margins.
 
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