Recent trade press articles, & the press release for BPMA, seemed to have made it clear that a forthcoming merger between BPMA & Promota was a near formality. However the recent press release by Promota indicates that their members are to decide the final view of Promota. The press release from the BPMA stated the ‘The merger is proceeding and both boards have agreed that the target date for the merger is 1st May 2010.’ The PPD Newsdesk has clearly stated that their was to be ‘One Association – One Show’. The article also announced that ‘the newly merged organisation will benefit from more than ?100,000 sponsorship and support in a two-year deal with Trade Only which covers both the show and the national awards dinner ceremony.’ To date the BPMA have not made any announcements on the actual structure of the deal.

The final press release to hit the market was from Promota, and agreed that negotiations had recommenced with ‘a view to a formal merger between the two associations on or around 1st May 2010.’ However, they also make it clear the ‘Any merger will ultimately be the decision of our membership’. So, it appears that the Promota Board are looking to put the decision to their members in the coming weeks.

Sourcing City have never made secret our support for the merger, & at the same time our full support for the independent member only Promota Show. At this stage it is unclear the feelings of the general Promota membership towards the merger, but we suspect that the majority would have good reason to be in favour. Following the announcement at the Promota Gala Dinner that this years Promota Show was to be the last, ‘Day Two’ at the show contained many stunned people. It is now clear that the merger will also mean the end of the Promota Show, and as yet, it is unknown whether the loss of the Promota Show would be an issue to the majority of Promota members. It will be interesting to see how this consequence will affect Promota members opinions when voting on the merger in the coming week.