EQS-News: Highlight Group with positive sales growth in fiscal year 2022

Highlight Group with positive sales growth in fiscal year 2022

• Increase in consolidated sales by CHF 15.6 million to CHF 523.8 million
• EBIT amounts to CHF 14.6 million
• Consolidated net profit for the period attributable to shareholders of CHF -2.9 million
• Equity ratio increases slightly to 29.3% as of Dec. 31, 2022

The Highlight Group was again able to increase consolidated sales in fiscal year 2022. 

Group development in fiscal 2022

• The Highlight Group's business performance in 2022 was satisfactory overall from the Company's perspective. Consolidated sales of CHF 523.8 million were up 3.1 % on the previous year's figure of CHF 508.2 million.
• Operating profit (EBIT) decreased by CHF 14.0 million or 49.0% to CHF 14.6 million (comparative period: CHF 28.6 million) due to inflation, rising energy costs and declining consumer spending.
• The share of earnings attributable to Highlight shareholders decreased to CHF -2.9 million after CHF 14.8 million in the previous year.

Development of the operating segments in 2022

• There were eight in-house and co-productions in total in theatrical production. For example, shooting took place on the in-house productions “Manta Manta Zwoter Teil” and “Rehragout-Rendezvous” in 2022. In addition to the international projects “Perfect Addiction” and “In the Lost Lands”, filming on “Hagen” began and will continue into 2023. In theatrical distribution, a total of seven films were released in German theaters in the financial year, including "Guglhupfgeschwader" from the Eberhofer series, "Der Nachname" with Florian David Fitz as well as "After Forever" from the successful After series. In the TV exploitation/license trading business area, numerous license sales of in-house and third-party productions were again realized in 2022, with both established and new partners. The first broadcast of "Kaiserschmarrndrama" achieved its usual high market shares, as did "Der Vorname". Sales in the Film segment climbed by 7.8 % to CHF 357.4 million in the year under review (previous year: CHF 331.5 million). Other segment income, which is largely influenced by capitalized film production costs, fell significantly by 45.5 % to CHF 77.1 million (previous year: CHF 141.5 million). At the same time, segment expenses were down – in particular on account of a significant reduction in amortization – by 8.3 % in total at CHF 419.3 million (previous year: CHF 457.1 million), resulting in segment earnings remaining stable year-on-year at CHF 15.2 million (previous year: CHF 15.9 million).  
• In the Sports and Event segment, the TEAM group successfully launched the marketing of media and sponsorship rights for the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League for the 2024-27 cycle. At Sport1, the focus in the 2022 financial year was again on consistent multimedia content use. In addition to strengthening the SPORT1 portfolio through the acquisition of new rights, such as in women's soccer, the extension of existing partnerships and the development of new content cooperations and business areas, the focus remains on cross-platform exploitation. In view of the still massively growing digital and cross-platform use of media offers, the digital diversification of the SPORT1 brand will also be further advanced. New content and marketing environments will be created at the same time - for example, evaluation on the digital platforms. At CHF 166.4 million, external sales in the Sports and Event segment were down by 5.8 % on the previous year’s level (CHF 176.7 million) due to currency effects. Segment expenses rose by CHF 174.6 million to CHF 176.6 million due to inflation and rising energy costs, while other income decreased by CHF 17.2 million to CHF 13.3 million. As a result, segment earnings were down year-on-year at CHF 5.6 million (previous year: CHF 19.6 million).

Targets for fiscal 2023

Due to the continuing uncertain market situation caused by the inflation trend and the effects of the Ukraine crisis, the Board of Directors cannot rule out an impact on the Highlight Group's operating activities.

As in the previous year, the Board of Directors is monitoring the current situation in the ongoing year and regularly reviewing the measures taken. Among other things, the Highlight Group plans to return to stable and economically successful business activities with a strong theatrical program including “Manta Manta-Zwoter Teil“ and “Sonne und Beton“, as well as with major growth potential in the Sports and Event segment from the 2023/24 season and the new Bundesliga rights such as women's soccer. Due to the above-mentioned risks, the Board of Directors cannot issue a forecast for the 2023 financial year.

The Annual General Meeting for fiscal 2022 is scheduled to take place on June 22, 2023.

From today, the annual report for 2022 can be downloaded from www.highlight-communications.ch in German and English