Good results for MCH Swiss Exhibition Ltd.

The consolidated result of Swiss Exhibition in 2003 shows an income of CHF 179.5 m (previous year CHF 181.2 m) and expenditure before depreciation of 149.2 m (CHF 151.0 m) with a cash flow of CHF 30.3 m (CHF 30.2 m). With a depreciation of CHF 27.1 m (CHF 25.6 m), the group profit stands at CHF 3.2 m (CHF 4.6 m). Investments made lay in the region of CHF 31.6 m (CHF 14.3 m) In view of this result, the Board will propose payment of a dividend of CHF 3.00 per share at the shareholders' meeting.

 

 

Although the company did not quite achieve its goal, in view of the recessionary economic climate and unforeseeable events such as the Irraq crisis and the SARS epidemic, the nevertheless positive result must be accorded the recognition it deserves, commented Chairman of the Board Robert A. Jeker. "The result shows that Swiss Exhibition has continued to gain in terms of efficiency and competitiveness, a fact that is underlined by the comparison with other exhibition companies, some of whom benefit from high state subsidies."

 

 

In 2003, Swiss Exhibition organised and hosted a total of 19 of its own exhibitions and 26 guest exhibitions with a total of 13,704 exhibiting companies, a net exhibition area of 509, 955 square metres and 1,490,353 visitors.

 

At the 19 exhibitions of its own mounted by Swiss Exhibition at its venues in Basel (15) and Zurich (3, without BASELWORLD), as well as in Miami Beach (1), a total of 8,251companies exhibited, taking up a net exhibition area totalling 372,430 square metres, and attracting a total of 1,047,229 visitors.

 

Last year, 21 conventions - 19 of them with an accompanying exhibition - and 262 other events took place at the Convention Center Basel. The total number of 283 events at the Convention Center Basel recorded a total of 120,079 participants and visitors.

 

The economic advantage resulting from Swiss Exhibition's activities amounts to an annual total of around CHF 1.5 to 2 billion. Barely measurable or estimable, but probably considerably greater, is the successful exhibitions' benefit to their customers, whose success also has a positive influence on the economy.

 

 

Swiss Exhibition was able to strengthen the position of the internationally leading exhibitions in the sector of watches and jewellery, as well of art - one of the company's most important aims. In the European exhibition section, the important process of "portfolio cleansing and development" has been successfully continued.

 

Art exhibitions: Generally speaking, Art 34 Basel was rated as an outstanding year. An impressive result was also recorded by Art Basel Miami Beach, held for the second time, which confirmed and reinforced its position the most important art show in the USA and "number 2" in the world.

 

Watch and jewellery shows: Following the Federal authorities' SARS decision in connection with BASELWORLD, it was finally possible to persuade the affected clients to remain true to BASELWORLD - provided that the entire show is held in Basel in future, a fact that necessitated investments of over CHF 40 million for the construction of the new Hall 6 (CHF 15.6 in 2003).

 

Industrial exhibitions: Last year, Ineltec took place for the first time in its new segmentation - Power + Building, Lighting and Electronics. The newly conceived package of the packaging and logistics events mavex/XCHAIN/staplex will make its debut and year and next. Next year will also see the premiere of the new ILMAC, the industrial exhibition for research, development, environmental and process engineering in pharmaceutics, chemistry and biotechnology which will reunite the two exhibitions r+d in life sciences and REACH for process solutions.

 

Building and services exhibitions: In this sector, Swissbau 2003 marked the beginning of the new positioning of Swiss Exhibition's whole building exhibition portfolio, which was continued by HILSA 2004. A new positioning of Orbit has been developed in dialogue with exhibitors and visitors with the aim of reinstating Orbit as the leading event for all suppliers from the ITC sector and decision-makers in Swiss companies. A new and promising project, BuchBasel, was launched in 2003. And in spite of the prevailing trends, Igeho 2003 achieved a record number of both exhibitors and visitors.

 

Public exhibitions: Following a marked decrease in attendance at Muba 2003, the Exhibition Management decided on immediate conceptual measures to restore the crowd-pulling quality of Switzerland's greatest public fair. The positive course of Muba 2004 proved the success of these measures. In response to the exhibitors' wish for optimisation of the dates and closeness to the market, the Giardina garden exhibition will be held exclusively in Zurich in future. In addition, it is planned to hold an edition of Giardina in Karlsruhe in collaboration with a local partner in 2005.

 

 

Last year, Swiss Exhibition completed its reorganisation process which began in October 2002. With the aim of creating an efficient, market-orientated structure, two main improvements were carried out: Swiss Exhibition's own exhibition portfolio was divided into five strategic divisions that comply with market logic, and the former Technical Services Division was integrated in the other divisions.

 

Within the framework of this reorganisation, the elimination of interfaces and the outsourcing of special items resulted in a total reduction of 33 jobs over the whole period, amounting to around 10 percent of the personnel

 

 

Dr. Andres F. Leuenberger (Basel), member of the Board of Directors of Swiss Exhibition since 1998, will resign from his office at the general meeting of 6 May 2004. The Board of Directors proposes Dr. Karin Lenzlinger Diedenhofen (Wermatswil), Director and Delegate of the Board of Lenzlinger Söhne AG in Nänikon as his successor.

 

In connection with the integration of the former Technical Services Division in the other divisions, the Group Management has also been reduced by one member to four members. Ueli Born, formerly Head of the Technical Services Division, resigned from the Group Management at his own wish on 31.12.03 in order to pursue new lines of activity - in particular the responsibility for large building projects - and in view of his planned early retirement.

 

 

The Board of Directors and the Group management consider it a matter of course to meet the requirements of Corporate Governance as formulated in the guidelines of the SWX Swiss Exchange. The 2002 annual report of MCH Swiss Exhibition Ltd. was immediately approved, and the company will continue to publish all information relevant to Corporate Governance.

 

MCH Swiss Exhibition Ltd. makes a clear distinction between the Board of Directors as the top controlling body and the Group Management, which is responsible for the operational business management. The duties and competences of the controlling bodies are clearly stipulated in the organisation regulations.

 

The total amount of all compensations paid to the eleven non-executive members of the Board of Directors in the business year 2003 was CHF 403,000. The total amount of all compensations paid to the five members of the Group Management in the business year 2003 was CHF 1,594,000.

 

 

 

 

The 2003 Annual Report will be published on 15 April 2004.

This media release and the Annual Report (from 15 April 2004) can be accessed under www.messe.ch 

 

Enclosure: summary of the key figure

 

Robert A. Jeker, Chairman of the Board, and René Kamm, Chief Executive Officer, will answer questions from the media on 30 March 2004, from 10 to 12 am.

 

Contact for the media: Christian Jecker, Company Communications,
Tel. +41 58 206 22 52, christian.jecker@messe.ch

 

 

The full media release including summary of the key figure can be downloaded from the following link: