Annual Report 2023 - HLEE Group with stable result in 2023 financial year

Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR

Pratteln, April 24, 2024

Annual Report 2023

HLEE Group with stable result in 2023 financial year

• Consolidated sales were CHF 421.4 million (previous year: CHF 524.0 million) due to production-related factors in the Film segment
• EBIT amounted to CHF -3.5 million due to foreign currency effects (previous year: CHF -1.3 million)
• Consolidated net result for the period improved from CHF -21.1 million to CHF -20.1 million
• The equity ratio rose as a result of the capital increase to 29.4 % (previous year: 28.2 %). Consolidated total assets amounted to CHF 790.5 million (previous year: CHF 819.9 million)

Development of operating segments in 2023

Film segment:

Ten movies were released in German theaters in the 2023 reporting year, including “Rehragout-Rendezvous” from the successful Eberhofer series, “Manta Manta – Zwoter Teil” and “Sonne und Beton”. These titles all made it into the top 20 most successful movies released in Germany in 2023.

In license trading/TV exploitation, licenses were again sold for several in-house and third-party productions, with established and also new partners, in 2023 as well. The premiere broadcasts of “Guglhupfgeschwader” and “Contra” scored high market shares.

Sports and Events segment

In the Sports and Events segment, TEAM Marketing AG experienced a strong start to its sales operations on both the media and the sponsorship sides and renewed several key partnerships early on.

In the reporting year, Sport1 Medien AG focused on optimizing its portfolio of rights, improving and creating new digital content and marketing environments in addition to cross-platform content exploitation, networking and capitalization. SPORT1 scored record viewer numbers for the broadcast of the World Darts Championship. 

Highlight Event AG’s business activities focused on the intensive support and realization of the agreements with the main sponsors of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as the sale of additional sponsorship rights for the Eurovision Song Contest. The contract with the Vienna Philharmonic was also extended early until 2032.

Outlook for 2024

With the market situation still uncertain due to developments in inflation and the effects of the Ukraine crisis and the conflict in the Middle East, the Board of Directors cannot rule out an impact on the operating activities of the HLEE Group.

The Board of Directors, as in the previous year, is monitoring the current situation in the current year and regularly reviewing the measures taken.

However, the HLEE Group was able to lay a good foundation for the 2024 film segment with the production of various titles in fiscal year 2023 and plans to release twelve productions, including “Chantal im Märchenland”, “September 5”, “In the Lost Lands”, “Hagen” and “Der Spitzname”. This offering will continue the high quality that the Group has already demonstrated with its top 20 productions in 2023.

In the Sport and Event segment too, the marketing of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League rights, optimal content utilization and distribution via SPORT1 and the strengthening of the portfolio through the acquisition of new rights should enable the Group to further expand its stable and economically successful business activities and secure more growth potential for the future.

There will be an adjustment to the management team of the HLEE Group in 2024. Peter von Büren, long-standing CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of HLEE, will retire from the management team on June 30, 2024. However, he will stand for re-election as a non-executive member of the Board of Directors of HLEE at the 2024 Annual General Meeting. As his successor, the Board of Directors of HLEE has appointed Hasan Dilsiz, the former long-standing Director of Group Finance, as the new CFO and member of the management team effective from July 1, 2024.

The Annual General Meeting for fiscal 2023 is scheduled to take place on 28 June 2024. The detailed 2023 Annual Report is available at https://www.hlee.ch/en/Interim-reports.

Contact:

Highlight Event and Entertainment AG

Investor Relations

Netzibodenstrasse 23b

4133 Pratteln, Switzerland

Tel.: +41 41 226 05 97

Fax: +41 41 226 05 98

info@hlee.ch

https://www.hlee.ch