Hyve, the UK-based business events and conferences company, has set out plans to more than double its revenue 18 months after being taken private from the London stock market by private equity firms Providence and Searchlight.
The plans include acquisitions of rival businesses in the corporate events market, which has experienced a surge in demand since the end of the pandemic as people have sought to meet in person again to strike deals and forge relationships.
In October, Hyve acquired HLTH, which runs several healthcare events, for an undisclosed amount, with further deals expected to be announced in the coming months.
A three-year plan aims to increase Hyve’s market share, customer retention and portfolio, according to chief executive Mark Shashoua, whose family founded the company in the early 1990s. In 2024, Hyve, which did not disclose profit numbers, reported that revenue had grown 60 per cent to $316mn.
The company is also seeking to “geoclone” its well-established exhibition and event brands to other locations around the world.
Shashoua said that bookings for events were already strong for the new year, with the US market remaining buoyant after the election of Donald Trump as president. Middle Eastern markets were also “high on people’s agenda”, he added.
The business, which went public in 1998, was initially focused on connecting businesses in emerging, former Soviet countries with those in other wealthy economies, but has since refocused its business around a series of core events in Europe, the US and the Middle East. The war against Ukraine accelerated a planned exit from Russia.
Shashoua said: “It has now been 18 months since Hyve became a private business and, in that time, we have accelerated our growth plans.”
He added that its private equity investors were providing “significant investment support to drive double-digit growth” in both revenues and profits.
The plans reflect a wider consolidation of the global events industry, with publicly listed rival companies such as Relx and Informa also looking at mergers and acquisitions as their share prices have surged since the pandemic ended.
In October last year, Informa, the UK-listed business events group completed its £1.2bn acquisition of British rival Ascential, taking its revenues to more than £4bn.
Hyve, which was taken private in 2023 by Providence and Searchlight despite opposition from some of its shareholders, aims to run the best events in any given sector, according to Shashoua.
The group now has about 30 events, including in its flagship retail Shoptalk portfolio. Shashoua told the Financial Times that the company was bringing in greater digital tools to its events that allowed people to better arrange and profit from their meetings.
