ICC boosts Durban’s economy
Durban ICC is growing profits and boosting the City’s economic impact.
THE 2015 fiscal year was a successful one in many respects for the Durban International Convention Centre (Durban ICC), and the company achieved a strong set of financial results and continued to deliver significant economic and social benefits to the city of Durban and the KwaZulu-Natal province.
Speaking at the release of the Centre’s annual report, chief executive officer, Lindiwe Rakharebe noted: “In spite of the challenging economic climate which has shown nominal improvement at best over the past year, the Durban ICC has managed to post profitable financial results for the fifth consecutive year.”
The company generated a revenue figure of R157 million, showing a year-on-year growth of over R5.3 million and a 20 per cent growth in number of events hosted this year. The Centre showed a marked improvement in its net profit for the year, increasing by 32 per cent from R24 million in 2014 to R32 million in 2015.
Durban’s municipal manager Sibusiso Sithole said: “As an entity of the eThekwini Municipality, the Durban ICC has a responsibility to deliver on its twin mandates of generating positive socio-economic impact to the citizens of our City while simultaneously operating in a responsible and profitable manner. I am pleased that the entity has delivered admirably on both these objectives during the 2015 fiscal year.”
During the past financial year, the Durban ICC once again made an immense macroeconomic contribution to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa. Despite the impressive contributions made in the previous financial year, the company achieved notable year-on-year increases in every major economic indicator for the 2015 year.
The company contributed R4.6 billion to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), showing a 47 per cent growth in this figure from the previous fiscal year.
The vast majority of this contribution benefited the KwaZulu-Natal economy directly, by adding R4.5 billion to the province’s Gross Geographic Product (GGP) while creating and sustaining 10 874 direct and indirect jobs for the country.
This remarkable macro-economic contribution translated into further social benefits for the country by contributing R986 million to indirect household income and generating R695 million in net foreign exchange earnings.
