DGAP-News: Highlight Group in line with planning after three months

• Consolidated sales rise by 36.5% to CHF 116.7 million
• Net profit for the period at CHF -4.5 million
• Annual forecast confirmed

The Highlight Group's sales and earnings performance was in line with expectations in the first quarter of 2019.

Group development in the first quarter of 2019*
 

• At CHF 116.7 million, consolidated sales were CHF 31.2 million higher than the figure for the first quarter of 2018. The increase results from the first-time consolidation of Constantin Medien AG effective March 31, 2018 on the one hand (CHF 28.1 million) and from higher sales of the Film and the Sports- and Event-Marketing segments on the other.
   
• The increase in the Film segment's sales was particularly attributable to the strong theatrical performance of the Constantin Film co-production "Ostwind - Aris Ankunft".
   
• The rise in the Sports- and Event-Marketing segment stems from higher agency commission that the TEAM Group generated as a result of successful marketing of the UEFA club competitions for the 2018/19 to 2020/21 seasons.
   
• At CHF -2.9 million, EBIT was down on the previous year's figure (CHF 3.3 million) due to a signi-ficant increase in consolidated operating expenses resulting from the initial consolidation of Constantin Medien AG.
   
• Consolidated net profit for the period totaled CHF -4.5 million, representing a decline of CHF 4.2 million. The share of earnings attributable to Highlight shareholders was CHF -3.4 million (previous year's period: CHF -0.7 million), corresponding to earnings per share of CHF -0.06.
   
• Consolidated equity of CHF 220.0 million was down by CHF 5.6 million compared to December 31, 2018. The decline primarily results from the consolidated net profit for the period.

The Highlight Group is confirming its annual forecast for consolidated sales, which are expected to amount to between CHF 520 million and CHF 540 million, and for consolidated net profit attributable to shareholders of between CHF 20 million and CHF 22 million.

The quarterly statement as of March 31, 2019 will be available for download at www.highlight-communications.ch starting from today.