Annual report 2001 - GL events

38 39
3-4-1-3 Presentation of the operating services
Space & Decoration
The activity of this sector consists of :
● the general installation of shows/ exhibitions/ events,
● the design and creation of custom-made and modular
stands,
Structures & Grandstands
For many years now, the company Hall Expo has been
servicing the events market. It provides and installs
temporary structures and grandstands. Temporary
seating installed on the Champs Elysées for Bastille Day
Parade, extension added to the Palais des Festivals in
Cannes, Tennis Grand Prix, Hospitality villages for the
World Cup of Football in 1998, Olympic Games in Sydney
with 100 000 m2 of structures and 80 000 seats of
temporary seating, the ones in Salt Lake City with 30 000
seats of temporary seating, represent some of the most
prestigious projects carried out by Hall Expo.
● the set-up of points of sales, show-rooms, corners,
stores shelf-space,
● the design and the building of pavilions for universal
or international fairs,
● the fittings and museum fittings.
In 2000, Générale Location acquired SF Protection. This
company based in Flixecourt and its subsidiary SFI
Gauthrin, produce, distribute and rent out dismountable
structures. The rental activity is realized mostly with
industrial companies based in France. Besides its own
commercial and financial performances, SF Protection
contributes fully to the business unit Structures &
Grandstands, on a technical and human level as well as
the additional rental equipment it offers.
Technology
Often associated with the business unit Space &
Decoration, the activities around Technology are as follows :
- Power supply, lighting,
- Heating – air conditioning,
- Stage activity.
The activity of image proposes audio-visual services,
production and broadcasting of images. Since 1996, it
completes the offer of the group by responding to
exhibitors‘ new expectations and demands and by
increasingly using new technologies. Operating on shows
and exhibitions, this activity has its own clients portfolio
in the world of television, production companies and
major client accounts via corporate conventions.
Furthermore, since the year 2000, this activity promotes
full day-light screens from the company GL UK used
during large international events.
Finally, this sector also includes the activities of access
control and data processing to be used by organizers and
exhibitors (qualitative and quantitative analysis of the
flow of visitors).
Furniture
This sector manages the rental of furniture, showcases,
accessories and antiques. It is used as a support to the
activities of Space & Decoration. Its clients are shows
and events organizers, exhibitors as well as decorators.
This business sector requires a perfect mastery of logistics,
of stock control with an important creativity regarding
the entire line of products proposed to the clients.
System
This activity differs from the Group’s traditional activity
and operates in distribution rather than rental activity
and provision of services.
Action Développement and Sodem, two companies
which distribute a wide range of materials and aluminium
sections for the exhibition market and other related
markets.
ISF, a company based in Nantes and equipped with an
important French commercial network, distributes a
whole range of products both standard and modular for
the exhibition market.
Venue management
After the Group was entrusted with the management of
the Convention Center of Lyon, it decided to include the
activity of Venue Management as a new strategic axis of
its development.
This activity, led in association with public local
organizations, is in charge of the management of two
new sites granted in 2001, one in Toulouse with the
Congress Center Pierre Baudis and the other in Barcelona
with the International Congress Center due to open in
2004.
This sector works in strong synergy with the Group’s
traditional expertise and benefits from medium-term
visibility considering the duration of the agreements
signed for the management of the sites.
Besides the sites mentioned above, the group today
manages the Congress Centers of Saint Etienne,
Clermont-Ferrand, and the Château of Saint-Priest.