SWITZERLAND: Swiss retailer Mobilezone has reported positive business development for the first half of 2017. Sales amounted to CHF 513 million, down by 1.9 percent from CHF 523 million in H1 2016, and operating profit EBIT was reported at CHF 18.4 million, up from CHF 18.3 million in H1 2016. Consolidated profit grew by 11 percent to CHF 13.7 million from CHF 12.3 million in 2016. The segment Trade includes activities in the company’s branch network extending throughout Switzerland, the online business, the B2B sector, and also the activities of einsAmobile in Germany. The market environment in the retail business remains very demanding and challenging. In particular, the market as a whole is struggling to cope with declining customer frequency.
A new shop concept with a completely new design was introduced in the mobilezone shops in Brugg, Langenthal, Lugano, Schonbuhl Bern, and Vevey. Other shops, such as the ones in Burgdorf and Uster, will be moved to a new and better location in the current fiscal year and will be remodeled in line with the new concept. In the second half of the current fiscal year, the Mall of Switzerland in Ebikon will be opened. In particular, online business in Germany showed record results both in terms of sales and operating profit. Specifically, in Germany more than 100,000 (90,000 in 2016) mobile phone contracts were concluded online in the first half of the year. With the launch of DeinHandy.ch, mobilezone is implementing its German model in the Swiss market. Sales in the segment Trade fell from CHF 489 million to CHF 469 million, a drop of 4 percent. The wholesale portion of this total amounts to CHF 302 million (CHF 309 million in 2016). EBIT decreased from CHF 12.9 million to CHF 12.4 million.
The Segment Service Providing includes the company’s own TalkTalk mobile and fixed-line offers as well as the service business in Switzerland and Austria. Sales in the segment Service Providing grew from CHF 34.3 million to CHF 43.3 million, an increase of 26 percent. EBIT rose by 100 percent to CHF 6.2 million. The profitability of the repair and service business in Switzerland and Austria developed very positively in the first six months of fiscal year 2017. TalkTalk’s sales and EBIT also came in above 2016 figures. The share of mobile phone customers of TalkTalk’s total sales amounts to 47.5 percent (compared with 33.5 percent in 2016). In the area of mobile telephony, the number of customers increased to 41,000 (from 39,000 at the end of 2016). As regards the outlook for the second half, the market environment in the retail market in Switzerland will continue to remain challenging. In H2, mobilezone expects the launch of a new iPhone model. This will boost the number of postpaid contracts, provided the new models are readily available. The enhanced online activities support mobilezone’s adopted strategy. As in previous years, it expects a stronger profit contribution in the second half.
