DGAP-News

Highlight Group in line with planning after three months

DGAP-News: Highlight Communications AG / Key word(s): Quarterly / Interim Statement Highlight Group in line with planning after three months 31.05.2017 / 17:39 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The Highlight Group's sales and earnings developed in line with expectations in the first quarter of 2017:

• Consolidated sales of CHF 80.0 million below the previous year's figure
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• EBIT declines to CHF 2.4 million due to production reasons
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• Slight increase in consolidated equity to CHF 136.4 million
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Group development in the first quarter of 2017

• Consolidated sales at CHF 80.0 million were down 37.5% year-on-year in the first three months of the year. The decline is attributable to the Film segment, which had generated exceptionally high income in the previous year due to the start of exploitation of "Fack Ju Göhte 2" in home entertainment and the launch of the TV series "Shadowhunters" in the US.
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• Consolidated operating expenses were down 32.0% to CHF 118.5 million. The main reason for this was considerably lower amortization of film assets and a production-related decrease in the cost of materials and licenses.
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• EBIT declined from CHF 8.7 million to CHF 2.4 million, due particularly to lower production volume.
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• Consolidated equity (including non-controlling interests) at CHF 136.4 million was up by CHF 1.1 million as against the end of 2016 (CHF 135.3 million). As a result, the equity ratio improved by 1.5 percentage points to 38.2%.
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The quarterly statement as of March 31, 2017 will be available for download at www.highlight-communications.ch starting from today.