OREANDA-NEWS. In 2013, the Lenexpo Exhibition Complex hosted about 100 different events, covering a record 480,000 square metres of floor space, 160,000 square metres more than in the previous year.

These figures, provided by ExpoForum International, the operator of the complex, demonstrate why it is now so vital to move business events to the new ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre, which is due to open in the autumn of 2014.

Strategic agreements to accommodate events at the new venue have already been signed with 12 leading Russian and international convention and exhibition organisers, whose events, according to the plans, will require a total area of about 100,000 square metres annually until 2019. A number of the company's own projects, including the St Petersburg International Gas Forum, the St Petersburg International Health Forum, Zoosphere, and others, will also move to new centre during 2014.

The results of ExpoForum International's convention and exhibition business in 2013 show that profits have grown by a factor of 4.8 and margins have increased by 10%. In addition, the company has confirmed its status as a professional operator of international-standard conventions. Last year, the Lenexpo Exhibition Complex hosted such high-level international events as the SportAccord International Convention, the summer session of the Central European Chapter of the ICCA, and the Russia-ASEAN Forum.