Clarion Events

Company Details

A successful, dynamic and creative business Clarion Events can trace its roots back to 1947. In more recent times the firm has grown substantially and rapidly into the largest independent event organiser in the UK and subsequently become a truly global business.

From just 70 employees in one office in 2004, there are now over 350 people working directly for Clarion Events from 13 offices in 10 different countries:

UK (London Fulham Green); Germany (Bielefeld); Turkey (Istanbul); The Netherlands (Maarsen); South Africa (Cape Town); USA (Connecticut and Reno); UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi); Singapore.

Clarion Events organises more than 200 events (a mixture of exhibitions, conferences and seated events) annually across the globe. More than 12,000 companies trust us with their custom each year and over 700,000 people give their valuable time to visit our events. This success has come from identifying high-value, niche audiences in difficult-to-reach markets and then building them into market-leading products.

Current turnover is more than £80m and profits have grown fourfold since undertaking an MBO in 2004. In that time Clarion Events has completed 12 acquisitions, consistently launched new events and entered into three joint venture partnerships.
In 2007 the company entered the Sunday Times Buyout Track 100 in 44th position, rising to 32nd in the 2008 list.

The VSS fund has supported significant growth since 2008 with 7 acquisitions and 60% growth in profits.