Owners of Glee, the UK’s leading garden retail exhibition, ITE Group plc has announced a name change and new brand identity which will mark a new chapter of business growth and development for the UK’s leading annual garden trade event, as well as the newly launched Pawexpo exhibition, which will present a fresh look at pet retailing.

The move from ITE Group plc to Hyve Group plc is reflective of the evolution of the Group’s business resulting from its Transformation and Growth programme (TAG) announced in May 2017 and now nearing completion.  The Group’s vision, enabled through the TAG programme, is to create the world’s leading portfolio of content-driven, must-attend events delivering an outstanding experience and ROI for customers. Through the TAG investment, the business has built a dynamic scalable platform, improved processes and enhanced systems, and completed the acquisition of the Ascential Events Exhibitions portfolio last year.

Glee and Pawexpo’s Event Director, Matthew Mein, said: “Over the last few years the garden retail sector has demonstrated its tenacity and passion for developing our industry. Glee has provided an unrivalled annual platform for furthering this growth through networking and educational opportunities. The move to Hyve enables us to build on this, supported by a wider business that fully understands the vital role exhibitions have to play, and has a proven track record of launching successful market leading events.  This is especially timely as we bring Pawexpo to the market in 2020. Offering a dynamic look at pet retailing, this new event will provide pet buyers and retailers with the products, energy, creativity and business support that they need to offer a more comprehensive and future facing pet offering, all presented under one roof where sharing experiences and networking will shape the content.  Being able to bring the show to the Hyve ‘family’ is an exciting prospect, and we look forward to sharing further details soon.”

Hyve Group plc is a next generation global events business with a mission to create unmissable events, where customers from all corners of the globe share extraordinary moments and shape industry innovation. Hyve Group is a fundamentally different business and has transformed into:

Unveiling Hyve Group plc, Mark Shashoua, CEO, said: “We launch our new brand identity, Hyve, to move us into the future, with a clear vision, well defined strategy and a renewed energy. We have transformed the Group into a next generation global events business, and our new name is a better reflection of who we are now and captures our ambitions for our future.

Since taking the helm in 2016, the Group has fundamentally changed from a portfolio of decentralised, emerging markets events into a global business, focused on running market-leading events, wherever they may be in the world.

We are now in a better position than ever before. Following four years of decline, FY18 was the second consecutive year of like-for-like growth, including double-digit growth from our Top 10 events, and was the first year of growth in both volume and yield since 2014.

As Hyve, we are on a mission to deliver unmissable events. We believe our model gives us a distinctive competitive edge as customer needs evolve and we aspire to set the standard for our industry.”