W woodworking show sold on a high

The sale comes two months since the successful W14 show at the Birmingham NEC and what has been described as a promising post-show follow-up period with confirmation already from three-quarters of the exhibitors for W16.

The event has been owned since 2010 by Huddlestone Events, but director John Smith-Bodden has been involved with the show for 20 years.

“It is definitely a case of selling on a high, both for the show and the industry. The show can only reflect the industry and from that it means it is in a good place. The feedback from the people at the show showed the sector to be very buoyant. People at the show reported high levels of business and that is probably the driver for the sale,” said Mr Smith-Bodden.

“Yes, we are selling on a high, but it is a natural progression, the show needs to go in to the next stage and we are a very small team,” he said.

The business is being sold to Montgomery, which has six building and construction exhibitions including the Surface Design Show in London, among a portfolio of a dozen other industry sectors. In South Africa it owns Ecoafribuild and Interbuild Africa.

Details of the deal have yet to be disclosed.

W14 covered three large halls at the NEC and soon after the midway point exhibitors had sold more machines than the entire W12 show. Pre-audited visitor numbers were up 21% at 9,667 with 28% more exhibitors renting 20% more floor space.

Mr Smith-Bodden said Huddlestone Events comprised himself, exhibition director Angela McGowan and one other employee. He said he had not yet made plans for the future, but under a non-competing clause in the deal he would not be involved in the timber industry.

Mr Smith-Bodden, as chief executive of the Woodworking Machinery Suppliers Association (WMSA), reinvented the former Woodmex exhibition for the 2006 W6 event, but had been involved in the running through the WMSA since 1994.