Bellevue Group's operating profit sharply higher at mid-year mark - assets under management at an all-time high of CHF 5.2 bn - bottom-line loss due to impairments and writedowns - Seite 2

The significant improvement in the Group's operating results is overshadowed by extraordinary impairment charges. As already communicated on July 15, 2015, the Board of Directors and the Executive Board have reassessed the future earnings of Bank am Bellevue's Brokerage unit in view of the lower volume of business activities and the reduced revenues. Projections were revised and impairments and writedowns totaling CHF 24.7 mn were declared under the "Goodwill" and "Other intangible assets" items in the balance sheet as at the mid-year reporting date. The extraordinary impairments led to a consolidated net loss of CHF 15.5 mn for the period under review. 

"Amid a challenging environment, Bellevue Group has achieved further progress on the operating front and obviously gained business momentum. The Group will build on its core competencies of providing original investment ideas and extensive capital market expertise to increase recurring income flows. The first-half results achieved by Asset Management confirm the successful execution of this strategy. Our overriding aim is to achieve a more balanced earnings mix from Asset Management and Bank am Bellevue," comments André Rüegg, CEO ad int of Bellevue Group, with regard to the first-half results. 

Asset Management: Operating profit doubled and assets under management at new record high

The successful acquisition and integration of Adamant Biomedical Investments AG represents another milestone in the history of Bellevue Asset Management. It creates interesting growth opportunities at the national and international level and ensures a lasting diversification of the Group's income streams. Now one-third of the Group's earnings are generated from sources other than BB Biotech. This diversification is fully visible for the first time in the current fiscal year, with Asset Management already reporting a record operating profit of CHF 12.1 mn for the first half (prior year: CHF 4.4 mn), an increase of 173% from the prior year period. Assets under management also reached a new all-time high of CHF 5.2 bn. This increase of 80% y-o-y is attributable to the acquisition of Adamant and the renewed strong performance of the investment products. Growth in the first half 2015 amounted to 11% despite a highly negative currency effect. BB Biotech AG was again a top performer with a gain of about 21.5% (in CHF) which eclipsed the benchmark performance by 7 percentage points. Other strong performers were the Lacuna Adamant Global Healthcare Fund and the BB Entrepreneur Europe Small Fund, which rose 25.9% (in EUR) and 27% (in EUR) during the period, beating their respective benchmarks by 6.6 and 8.8 percentage points, respectively. Private and institutional investors entrusted Bellevue Asset Management with more than CHF 300 mn in new money during the period under review. This inflow was offset by redemptions and other outflows.