Although the first half of the year was characterized by at times difficult market conditions, the Highlight Group remained on its income-oriented road to success: With consolidated sales of CHF 180.5 million, down 13.4% on the previous year’s figure (CHF 208.5 million) in line with planning, profit from operations was increased to CHF 22.8 million – a rise of 55.1% as against the first half of 2009 (CHF 14.7 million).
The decline in sales results from the TV service production, theatrical distribution and license trading/TV exploitation business areas. The TV service production and license trading business areas are still dealing with difficult market conditions due to the savings measures taken by the major TV broadcasters. Something similar applies to theatrical distribution, which was dominated by major 3-D productions of the Hollywood studios in the first months of the year.
However, both business segments of the Highlight Group contributed to the profit improvement. Earnings in the Film segment amounted to CHF 3.8 million, almost tripling the figure for the previous year (CHF 1.3 million). In Sports- and Event-Marketing, segment earnings improved by almost 30% to CHF 21.5 million as a result of the marketing successes for the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League (first half of 2009: CHF 16.6 million).
The increase in earnings was even clearer for the net profit for the period, which more than doubled from CHF 5.9 million in the previous year to currently CHF 12.0 million. The profit portion of Highlight shareholders increased by 38.2% to CHF 7.6 million, equal to earnings per share of CHF 0.17 (first half of 2009: CHF 0.12).
As of June 30, 2010, the Highlight Group acquired the 20% stake in Team Holding AG, which had been held by UEFA. As a result of the payment of the major part of the purchase price (CHF 39.8 million) for this stake, cash and cash equivalents recorded a decrease of CHF 41.8 million to CHF 159.3 million in the first half of 2010. Accordingly, net debt increased by CHF 16.7 million to CHF 133.5 million as of June 30, 2010.
In light of the good operational prospects, the Highlight Group is still expecting to generate consolidated sales of between CHF 420 million and CHF 440 million and earnings per share of between EUR 0.42 and EUR 0.44 in 2010 as a whole.
The interim report as of June 30, 2010 is available for downloading from the company’s website www.highlight-communications.ch as of today.
For questions, please contact:
HIGHLIGHT COMMUNICATIONS AG
Investor Relations
CH-4133 Pratteln / Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)61 816 96 91
E-Mail: ir@hlcom.ch
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