Our Companies
Montgomery is made up of a number of subsidiary companies and partnerships specialising in international trade fairs.
Alagat Montgomery is a joint venture between Montgomery and Alagat International of Riyadh. The JV was created to launch a new programme of international trade exhibitions reflecting the modern needs of Saudi Arabia's dynamic economy, and tailored to meet the needs of the Kingdom’s aggressive growth plans. The shows all take place at the newly opened Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Centre (RICEC).
Asian Art Fairs Ltd is a joint venture between Montgomery, Single Market Events Ltd and Ramsay Fairs. The company was created in 2007 with a view to launching new art fairs in Asia.
The first fair, ART HK was launched in 2008 and was the largest international art fair ever to take place in Hong Kong. It welcomed over 19,000 visitors who came to see the 101 leading international galleries that exhibited at the landmark Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Since then the fair has grown to over 260 galleries from 38 countries and over 63,000 visitors.
Exhibition Consultants Ltd (ECL) is Montgomery’s management consultancy arm and special projects capability. It draws on 40 years of global knowledge and expertise to plan, design and manage a range of cultural projects and festivals, which drive economic growth and define cities as major business destinations.
Assignments have included feasibility studies for the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Jakarta Exhibition Centre and the International Fair of Khartoum, demonstrating our ability to work internationally, and understand varying cultures and working environments.
Dogan Trading is an exhibition and events company jointly owned by the Johannesburg Exhibition Centre (of which Montgomery are the main shareholder) and South African Show Services. This company organises a number of events in South Africa such as Automechanika South Africa, the Rand Easter Show and The Johannesburg Motor Show.
Founded in 1999, Fresh RM Ltd was launched as a joint venture company between Reed Exhibitions and Montgomery. In June 2011, Montgomery bought out Reed's share of this business and Montgomery now owns the company outright.
A young, dynamic and creative company, Fresh Montgomery are a specialist exhibition organiser in the UK and have built up a reputation for delivering unparalleled business opportunities for the food and hospitality industries. Fresh Montgomery is a dominant force in the exhibition industry, organising market-leading events in the food, drink and hospitality sectors.
Imago Montgomery is a partnership between Imago Techmedia and Montgomery. The partnership was created in 2008 with a view to taking the highly successful IP Expo brand from the UK and adapting it to the South African market. The company is based in Johannesburg and continues to look for further opportunities in the ICT market across Africa.
Launched in 2008, the India Art Fair (formerly India Art Summit) recorded over 100,000 visitors in just four days from 17 cities in India and 67 cities around the world, making it one of the most attended art fairs globally. Of the 84 galleries participating, 34 were international galleries – double the number from the previous year – bringing an international and domestic focus to the buoyant Indian art market.
Based in Dublin, Irish Services is Ireland’s leading exhibition organiser in the building, sustainable, wood machinery, furniture and gift industries. For over 40 years we have been creating and developing the most effective exhibitions and events in Ireland.
In 2004, Montgomery Worldwide acquired the The Johannesburg Exhibition Centre (JEC). This is the largest multi-purpose venue with dedicated exhibition facilities in Africa. The JEC can offer over 42,000 square meters of covered space, and an additional 80,000 square meters of outdoor, multi-purpose space - all of which is accessible from multiple entrances.
All infrastructural requirements are also provided, such as banking facilities, telecommunication services, five star in house catering facilities, and ample and secure parking for up to 20,000 vehicles.
Montgomery Africa was established in 2010. It specialises in joint ventures and acts as a partner to those international companies who want a more risk-averse and cost-efficient way of entering and developing their events in Africa. Rather than footing the expense of setting up their own offices and investing in new infrastructure – not to mention having to comply with and manage the comprehensive legal and statutory processes – companies can easily partner with Montgomery Africa and be provided with all the expertise, staffing and local knowledge they need to launch a new show. Montgomery Africa has a team of trained event specialists specifically tasked to manage foreign partner’s requirements and to ensure their brands are fully protected.
Montgomery Libya Ltd is a joint venture between Montgomery and Dar Alarab, a member of the Alarab Media Group (AMG). AMG is one of Libya's leading communications and media companies. This company organises two events: Infrastructure Libya and Oil & Gas Libya as separate but concurrent events in Tripoli.
The former is an international exhibition and conference addressing the immediate priorities of Libya's rebuilding programme focusing on the country's infrastructure renewal and development. The latter is an international exhibition and conference for the regeneration of Libya's oil, gas and petrochemicals sector.
Montgomery Media Ten is a joint venture between UK-based Media Ten and Montgomery. The company was created with a view to taking the highly successful Grand Designs Live brand and adapting it to the South African market, which it successfully did in 2010. The company is based in Johannesburg and runs through our subsidiary Montgomery Africa.
Montgomery West Africa was set up in 2009 to take advantage of the growing opportunities in the Nigerian market. With a population of 158 million, and substantial reserves of both oil and gas, Montgomery believes this will soon emerge as a major global economy in the years ahead. The company presently runs the security show IFSEC West Africa with UBM and is launching further shows in the packaging, printing, building and ICT markets.
Montgomery has combined with Pico Global’s Sri Lanka operation, Pico Events, to organise a programme of new international trade shows to respond to the expanding Sri Lankan economy. Sri Lanka is experiencing a peace-dividend boom, rapidly modernising its infrastructure and revitalising its key hotel and hospitality sector.
OTSA stands for Overseas Trade Show Agencies, and represents many of the world's most successful exhibitions. We act as an agent and are responsible for assisting companies from the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland to increase their international sales.
Overseas Trade Show Agencies (OTSA) is a specialist sales and marketing company, which represents a wide portfolio of the world's most successful exhibitions. Every year OTSA helps hundreds of companies take their products and services into some of the world's most exciting export markets. Our work for leading international exhibition, event and congress organisers includes recruiting exhibitors and trade visitors, acting as the local partner for exhibition organisers and managing national pavilions. We mainly operate with companies from the UK and Ireland, but occasionally also with companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to increase their international sales.
OTSA enjoys close relations with government departments, trade associations, chambers of commerce, professional institutions and the trade press alike. OTSA's professionalism will help companies achieve outstanding success in the markets they choose to operate in and our expertise leads to the successful recruitment of hundreds of trade exhibitors and visitors to international exhibitions and events. OTSA is the agency that connects buyers with sellers and creates business worldwide.
Specialised Exhibitions (Pty) Ltd was established in 1967 and is the largest trade show organiser in South Africa. It is 100% owned by Montgomery, and runs some of the biggest shows in Africa. Its portfolio includes Electra Mining Africa, Propak Africa and Interbuild Africa.
In November 2007, it acquired its major competitor, Exhibitions for Africa, whose portfolio included exhibitions like Securex, Hostex and Markex. Subsequent to this acquisition, a 50% stake in Securex was sold to UBM in the UK. This was the catalyst for the launch of Montgomery Africa as a business development vehicle for joint venture partnerships in the African market.
Collectively, Specialised Exhibitions and Montgomery Africa are now the largest exhibition organisers in Southern Africa.
UBM Montgomery is a joint venture between UBM and Montgomery Africa. The company runs IFSEC South Africa, OSH Expo Africa and Facilities Show Africa. IFSEC is the number one security event in Africa, held in Johannesburg on an annual basis.
UBM Montgomery has also launched IFSEC West Africa in Lagos, Nigeria.
The World Photography Organisation (WPO) is a wholly owned subsidiary of World Photography Awards Limited, a joint venture between Montgomery and Scott Gray. The WPO supports professional, amateur and student photography, lending a global platform for the photographic industry to communicate, congregate and showcase current trends in photojournalism, fine art and commercial photography. The WPO delivers various initiatives and programmes across this global community, engaging WPO members and photographers of all levels in commercial, cultural and educational activities within the photographic industry. In addition to a comprehensive online community for photographers, current programmes include the Sony World Photography Awards - the world’s largest photography awards, sponsored by Sony; Student Focus - incorporating over 200 universities worldwide; World Photo events; the World Photography Collection and the Focus Award.