Macfrut runs and drives the Cesena Fiera budget for the 40th consecutive year in positive territory. The numbers were presented this morning (Friday 15 December) at the Shareholders' Meeting which saw the approval of the 2023 preliminary balance sheet and the presentation of the company's 2024 budget. The data was presented by the president of Cesena Fiera Renzo Piraccini , during the Assembly which saw interventions, among others, by the Budget Councilor of the Municipality of Cesena Camillo Acerbi.

Cesena Fiera's 2023 turnover rises to 9.1 million euros with an increase of +48% on the previous year (6.1 million euros). The net operating profit is 400 thousand euros, to which must be added the 100 thousand euros that Cesena Fiera allocated last June to the Cesena families affected by the flood. Cesena Fiera's turnover growth has been significant in the last five years (from 2019 - pre-Covid period - to 2023), which has seen an increase of +44%. The brilliant results are determined by the impetuous growth of Macfrut, the international fruit and vegetable supply chain fair, which has seen an increase of +67% from 2019 to today, for a turnover that has gone from 4.2 million to 7.1 million euro of the latest edition. At the same time, the activity of the Cesena exhibition center (trade fair events and conference centre) has seen great growth, reaching 1.2 million euros in the last year (+28%). In 2023, almost every autumn and winter weekend hosted trade fairs (around thirty events), while the conference center was used for around 150 events. Taking the pre-Covid period (2019) as a reference, the increase which saw growth of +40% in just five years is also significant in this case.

The prospects for 2024 are positive. First of all with regards to Macfrut, scheduled from 8 to 10 May, for which further growth is expected in terms of national and international exhibitors. Five months after the event, the fair has already sold 80% of the surface area of the last edition. And if the forecasts are with a plus sign on a global level, the same is true on a local level thanks to the hosting of new trade fair events on the calendar, in the wake of the success of the recent Gamics Cesena.

On the investment front in the Cesena exhibition centre, the photovoltaic system was completed with a production capacity of 700 kilowatts capable of satisfying the needs of the entire district. The investment was 600 thousand euros.

“We are satisfied with the results achieved which confirm the effectiveness of the strategic choices at a global and local level – explains Piraccini – It is a path that brings together three strategies that go in a single direction. First of all the development of Macfrut which is the cornerstone of this path from an increasingly international perspective. I would add the notable increase in the activity of the exhibition center in terms of events and the conference center with important repercussions on the Cesena area. Last but not least, the value of the company with a warm thank you to the shareholders who believed in the privatization process started in 2016: those who invested in Cesena Fiera saw their revenue more than doubled. And this is a source of great satisfaction for all of us."