Fiera Milano is increasingly becoming an integrated business and events platform

The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, a number of strategic acquisitions in the fields of exhibition stand construction, logistics and products, and a favourable schedule: these factors drove the first half of the year, which ended on a very positive note for Fiera Milano (revenue of €245.7 million, up 38.2% compared with the same period in 2025, profits doubled and EBITDA up 49%). But “These are not cyclical or one-off events,” explains the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Francesco Conci: on the contrary, “these results are the outcome of the strategy set out in the Business Plan presented two years ago”. A plan aimed at gradually transforming the Milan-based group from a trade fair operator into an integrated platform for business, services, conferences, entertainment and international development.

“This development is taking place against a particularly favourable global backdrop,” notes Conci, who forecasts that the results achieved will be consolidated in the second half of the year, followed by robust growth in 2027 and 2028. The events and live entertainment sector is, in fact, characterised by robust growth, which is increasingly attracting the attention of financial investors: “In just five weeks, some of the largest international private equity funds have invested over $5 billion in acquiring major event organisers such as Hyve, Emerald, Questex and CloserStill,” says the chief executive. And companies too, despite the difficulties and uncertainties of the global geopolitical and economic climate (or perhaps precisely because of them), are increasing their budgets for in-person meetings. “Major events are once again being regarded as strategic economic infrastructure,” adds Conci.

To meet this demand – as well as the new requirements associated with it – Fiera Milano is investing in the development of its business, transforming itself into an integrated platform capable of offering state-of-the-art venues and services, and thus attracting an ever-increasing number of international events, such as Ces Unveiled this autumn (the European promotional leg of the world’s largest technology trade fair), as well as CPHI, the world’s leading pharmaceutical congress, which has chosen Milan for the third time in just a few years. Venues for trade fairs which, although successful, will increasingly tend to reduce their covered floor space, and for conferences which, by contrast, require ever-larger areas and innovative formats (the so-called ‘ConfExpos’, which now account for 63 per cent of European touring events). But also venues for live events, such as the Live Dome, a legacy of the Olympics, which will be fully operational from March next year and will help to strengthen Fiera Milano’s expansion into the B2C market, as well as the traditional B2B sector.

“The second half of 2026 provides a clear snapshot of this transformation,” adds Conci: Fiera Milano’s calendar reaffirms the company’s core business – serving as a tool for the international development of Italian businesses – whilst at the same time opening up to new sectors, with a focus on the consumer market as well. Events are scheduled covering the main Italian and international production sectors, from fashion to energy, from engineering to pharmaceuticals and crafts, featuring events such as Eicma, Bimu and l’Artigiano in Fiera, as well as the world of entertainment, such as Milan Games Week & Cartoomics and CES Unveiled itself.

The group’s international expansion also continues, with the second edition of Host Arabia due to take place in Riyadh in December; the event is set to make its debut in Orlando, USA, in 2027, whilst Find (Design Fair Asia) will embark on a new chapter by moving from Singapore to Bangkok.