DGAP-News: Highlight Group with solid business development

Highlight Group with solid business development

• Consolidated sales rise by 34.8% to CHF 336.4 million
• Net profit for the period at CHF 6.0 million
• Annual forecast again confirmed

The nine-month figures of the Highlight Group were in line with expectations overall.

Group development in the first nine months of 2018*
 

• Consolidated sales rose to CHF 336.4 million, up 34.8% on the figure for the previous year. The increase results from the first-time consolidation of Constantin Medien AG on the one hand (CHF 65.0 million) and from higher external sales of the Film and the Sports- and Event-Marketing segments on the other.
   
• The rise in the Film segment results primarily from strong revenue in the home entertainment business area. This was based on the start of exploitation of the theatrical productions "Fack Ju Göhte 3" and "Dieses bescheuerte Herz".
   
• The increase in the Sports- and Event-Marketing segment stems from higher agency commission that the TEAM Group generated as a result of the new seasons 2018/19 to 2020/21.
   
• At CHF 14.1 million, EBIT fell short of the prior-year figure (CHF 15.8 million) on account of the first-time consolidation of Constantin Medien AG.
   
• The same applies to the consolidated net profit for the period of CHF 6.0 million (previous year's period: CHF 9.0 million), which was also influenced by a decrease of the financial result. The share of earnings attributable to Highlight shareholders was CHF 6.5 million (previous year's period: CHF 8.6 million), corresponding to earnings per share of CHF 0.11.
   
• Consolidated equity of CHF 217.7 million was down by CHF 18.7 million compared to December 31, 2017. The decline primarily results from the first-time consolidation of Constantin Medien AG, a higher number of treasury shares and the dividend payment.

The Highlight Group is continuing to forecast consolidated sales of between CHF 520 million and CHF 540 million as well as a consolidated net profit attributable to shareholders of between CHF 18 million and CHF 20 million for 2018 as a whole.

The quarterly statement as of September 30, 2018 will be available for download at www.highlight-communications.ch starting from today.