Media Release | MCH Group | Robust first-half result in a challenging environment - Seite 2

MCH Group, has an impact on the first-half result for 2017, the positive effects of the acquisition on this result have still been very limited. The consolidation period of only two months also coincides with a time at which business activity is comparatively weak for seasonal reasons.

Income statement

Consolidated operating income for the reporting period from 1 January to 30 June 2017 totals CHF 305.6 million. This is 9.4 % below the first six months of the previous year with its strong exhibition schedule and 1.5 % below this same period in 2015, which is comparable in terms of the number of exhibitions staged. Additional expenditure incurred in developing and realising a number of different strategic initiatives has led to a clear decline in operating results and group profit: The EBITDA is CHF 63.7 million and approximately one third below the figure for the previous two years. The EBIT and group profit have fallen to about half the value for the previous two years. The EBIT is CHF 30.1 million and the consolidated group profit (without minorities) CHF 26.5 million.

Balance sheet

The balance sheet total is CHF 171.1 million below the figure for the reference date of 31.12.2016. This is due to the repayment of a loan of CHF 50 million to the Canton of Basel-Stadt and the direct offsetting against equity of the goodwill associated with the acquisition of MC2. In the first six months of 2017, it proved possible to further increase the equity ratio from 47.9 % to 50.5 %.

The balance sheet total as per 30 June 2017 is CHF 744.9 million, comprising current assets of CHF 210.3 million and fixed assets of CHF 534.6 million. The liabilities side shows outside capital of CHF 368.7 million and equity of CHF 376.2 million.

Expectations 2017 and outlook

It is not possible to linearly extrapolate the present half-year result and draw conclusions regarding the expected result for 2017 as a whole. The MCH Group's exhibition schedule in the first half of the year is always more tightly packed and generates more income than in the second half, which similarly takes in the summer months when no events are held. Over the past few years, therefore, the result for the year (group profit) has always been about CHF 20 million below the half-year result.