THE events company which owns music venue The SSE Hydro in Glasgow has increased its operating profit by 19 per cent to £1.3 million during a challenging year for its conference business.

Scottish Event Campus (SEC), which also runs exhibition building the SEC Centre and the SEC Armadillo concert venue, declared it had been encouraged by “solid performances” across its key sectors over the period.

Turnover remained broadly static, edging up one per cent to £29.1m, owing to a quieter year on the business conference front. That had been anticipated on the basis of forward bookings.

However, a combination of greater efficiencies and success in attracting short-term business helped ensure earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation climbed by 11 per cent to £3.8m in the year ended March 31.

Chief executive Peter Duthie said the period covered by SEC’s most recent accounts had been “really positive generally”. He stated: “We always knew the year in question was going to be challenging from the conference point of view, because we get good advanced insight into conference bookings- they tend to book a long time out. Just by the cycle of events we knew this year was going to be quieter, but the team actually did a really good job in terms of bringing in shorter-term business, so we ended up ahead of where we expected to be.”

Pre-tax profits at SEC, which this month announced a December show for Sir Paul McCartney, dipped to £1.7 million from £2.7m. The fall reflected a lower gain from the sale of the second of two sites for hotel development behind the car park on the campus. It made a gain of £564,000 on the disposal of the hotel site, compared with a £2m gain on the first site last year.

SEC noted that the development of the two hotels is expected to begin this summer, with their opening anticipated in 2019. Mr Duthie said: “This will increase the number of hotel bedrooms around the campus from 950 to almost 1,400 and will be in invaluable addition to support our growing conference and exhibition sectors as well as our live entertainment offering.”

Mr Duthie observed that advance bookings pointed to the next two years being busier for conferences at the campus. May had been a record month for conferences, he said, thanks in part to the 5,000 delegates who attended the World Federation of Haemophilia Congress.

However, Mr Duthie said SEC is currently “constrained” by its current capacity and is looking to build a further exhibition and conference facility, in a former car park on the west side of the campus. Talks with the Scottish and UK Governments and the council in Glasgow to fund the project are continuing, with Mr Duthie saying the expansion would provide a “significant benefit to the Glasgow, Scottish and UK economies”.

He added: “The development plans fit with the objectives of Glasgow City Council, as major shareholder, to ensure additional economic benefit across the city in terms of spend on hotels, restaurants, retail, and the related employment creation.”

To date, Mr Duthie said Brexit has not had a significant effect on SEC business, adding that the biggest risk will come if the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU) undermines the economy. He noted that Scotland will continue to be in Europe after Brexit, albeit not as part of the EU, and SEC will continue to compete on the continent and beyond for conference business. “We’re hopeful of retaining market share,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Duthie said the Hydro continues to attract “A list artists” to the Hydro. As well as Sir Paul McCartney, acts confirmed to appear this year include Black Eyed Peas, Jess Glynne, Years & Years and Britney Spears. The Hydro will also host the 2018 European Championship Gymnastics and 19 consecutive nights by Glasgow comedian Kevin Bridges in October.