MILESTONES
CAPRICORN CELEBRATES 25,000 MEMBER MILESTONE Capricorn is now the third-largest cooperative in Australia Capricorn, Australasia’s largest automotive cooperative, celebrates an outstanding milestone in 2022, reaching 25,000 Member businesses across Australia and New Zealand. It has been 48 years since Capricorn was created by 17 Western Australian Golden Fleece service station operators, seeking to gain more parts purchasing power and value by uniting as a cooperative. Steady growth has been the hallmark of Capricorn’s success, meaning so much more than strength in numbers. Capricorn says its success comes from being an extensive and highly effective network created by auto repairers for auto repairers. At 25,000 plus Members, Capricorn is now the third-largest cooperative in Australia. Capricorn says it is proud of the impact it has had on Member businesses, their families and the broader automotive aftermarket industry. As a cooperative, Capricorn Members are also the owners, making them eligible for dividends if they are declared. By using their Capricorn Trade Accounts to purchase from Capricorn Preferred
Suppliers, Members were able to benefit from $92 million in pre-tax returns in 2021. This equated to a Member value return of 28 percent. Capricorn says it continues its almost five-decadelong history of successful growth while maintaining its core cooperative and ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. “I genuinely believe cooperatives are purposedriven organisations that have relevance and meaning for their Members’ lives every day. This is the difference between the investor model and the cooperative and mutual model of business, and it is the bedrock that makes them so special,” Capricorn Chief Executive Officer, David Fraser, said. “Supporting our Members’ businesses and helping to make them stronger is fundamental to ensuring a positive and sustainable future. Making your business stronger is without a doubt the major advantage of being a Capricorn Member, as more than 25,000 Members across Australia and New Zealand can attest.” Bradley Gannon, Capricorn Automotive Chief
Executive Officer added “the more we grow our membership, the more opportunity there will be to add even greater value to our Members, to help them run an even better and stronger business. “Although our size and offering have increased over the years, what hasn’t changed is our complete member focus – we still put the member at the heart of everything that we do. Together we are stronger and together we will survive and thrive in these challenging and ever-changing times,” Bradley said. To find out more about joining Capricorn, visit www.capricorn.coop
MESSE FRANKFURT CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY Messe Frankfurt is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its international sales partner network The global player now has a presence in 190 countries, creating an international network with 30 subsidiaries and around 50 sales partners that is without equal in the German exhibition industry. “The success of our global network structure can be seen in the fact that many of our foreign events are the second- or third-largest in their respective sectors worldwide – the largest being the corresponding flagship event at our Frankfurt base,” Messe Frankfurt President and Chief Executive Officer, Wolfgang Marzin, said. “The importance of this international network to our company has also been underscored during the pandemic, because our foreign events have allowed us to generate revenues that were denied to us in Frankfurt.” Frankfurt’s international sales partners got their start in spring 1922, when the Genoa Economic and Financial Conference marked Germany’s return to the global marketplace following the end of the First World War. For the first time, the catalogue for the International Frankfurt Fair listed international sales partners in 25 countries – most of which were located in Europe, such as in Italy and Switzerland.
Another eleven international sales partners were added within the space of five years, including an office in India. Back then, these partners still worked on an honorary basis, with their remuneration coming in the form of commissions on the stand rental fees that they generated. Following the Spring Fair in 1929, International Frankfurt Fairs and the business with international sales partners were put on ice due to the global economic crisis. In 1949 and 1950, however, new international sales partners were established in Australia, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Turkey. Over the next 40 years, Messe Frankfurt continued to grow internationally, achieving two major milestones with its first trade fair outside Germany – Interstoff Asia in Hong Kong in 1987 – and the establishment of its first foreign subsidiary in Tokyo in 1990. Some of the company’s present-day subsidiaries started out as international sales partners, including the French subsidiary set up in 2002.
affording Messe Frankfurt access to industries, customers, ministries and associations in a wide range of countries. The result is a global network that continues to expand. “Even in difficult times like during the global pandemic these past two years, we believe in the power of our international network,” Wolfgang said.
Messe Frankfurt has been enjoying successful long-term relationships with its international sales partners for 100 years now.
“That is because we believe in achieving international understanding through face-to-face interaction and the peaceful exchange of products and ideas. Countless long-term professional partnerships – and lasting friendships – have come into being at trade fairs.”
These sales partners acquire customers locally,
For more information, visit www.messefrankfurt.com Australian Automotive Aftermarket Magazine June 2022
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