Media Release | MCH Group | Robust first-half result in a challenging environment

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MCH Group: Robust first-half result in a challenging environment

• Operating income CHF 305.6 million, EBITDA CHF 63.7 million, EBIT CHF 30.1 million, group profit CHF 26.5 million.
  
• Declines due to the situation on the national market and market consolidations in the watch and jewellery industry.
  
• Significantly lower annual result expected for 2017 by comparison to previous years.
  
• New initiatives will ensure a positive trend in the result over the medium term.

The MCH Group has posted a consolidated first-half result for the reporting period from 1 January to 30 June 2017 which is considerably below the result for the corresponding period in previous years. The declines due to exhibition cycles, the market and the investments made are within the limits that began to emerge in 2016 already.

2017 is a weaker year in terms of exhibition schedules, without the nationally leading construction trade fair of Swissbau, which is only held in the even-numbered years, and is thus comparable with 2015. Since then, however, various factors with a negative impact on MCH Group's exhibition and event business have become more pronounced. These include the strong Swiss franc, market consolidations in the watch and jewellery sector and the automotive industry, and also digital transformation and an increasing restructuring of marketing budgets. For most national exhibitions, and also for national business in the field of live marketing solutions, these - and other factors - are leading to declines. In 2017, they also had an impact on the Baselworld Watch and Jewellery Show in particular for the first time.

Set against these negative factors and developments is the successful implementation of a number of strategic initiatives in the first half of 2017, including the acquisition of the MC2 ("MC-squared") company group, a leading service company in the exhibition and event market in the USA. While the cost of this acquisition, which is by far the biggest ever in the more than 100-year history of the