Readcrest Capital AG

Earnings Release • Nov 11, 2008

News Details

Ad-hoc | 11 November 2008 08:22

Business Media China AG: New record quarterly result

Business Media China AG / Quarter Results

Release of an Ad hoc announcement according to § 15 WpHG, transmitted by
DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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Ad-hoc

Business Media China AG: New record quarterly result

Stuttgart, November 11, 2008. Business Media China AG has achieved new
record sales with a volume of EUR 9.8 million in the third quarter 2008.
This corresponds to a growth of 21% compared with the corresponding quarter
of last year. While the exhibition segment of the business and the airport
advertising media sales developed as planned, the railway station media
business did not reach the high expectations despite its strong growth. The
strong sales trend led to a quarterly pre-tax result in the amount of EUR
0.5 million.

The consolidated nine monthly figures for the sales volume of the BMC group
amount to EUR 20.5 million (+ 28%). The gross margin reached EUR 6.2
million as of September 30, 2008 and surpassed last year's value by 94%.
The accumulated result after taxes rose by 67 % to minus EUR 1.4 million.
(previous year: minus EUR 3.7 million).

The volume of orders in the segments Exhibitions & Conferences as well as
advertising media continues to remain at a high level, a precise forecast
for the next months, however, is difficult due to the still unforeseeable
consequences of the global financial crisis. Under the present
circumstances the executive board expects group sales of EUR 30 to 35
million for the complete year. Despite further improvements in the results,
we can no longer expect to reach the breakeven point for the complete year
due to the economic uncertainties. Consequently, we are presently
initiating several cost saving measures - in parallel to the growth
initiatives continuing as planned - with the aim of lowering the breakeven
threshold of the group in 2009 considerably.

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Business Segments in Detail

Advertising media

In the third quarter 2008 the outdoor advertising in Beijing was
characterized strongly by the Olympics 2008. A so-called 'Olympic period'
was imposed by the Organizing Committee starting at the beginning of July
and ending with the Paralympics in the middle of September, during which
advertising in public areas on the one hand was massively restricted and on
the other hand reserved for the Olympic sponsors in the important
locations. Business Media China AG was not affected by these measures,
which resulted in some cases in the complete removal of advertising
materials. The advertising within railway stations and airports for
sponsors and supporters was not only permitted but actively supported by
the committee.

Airport media

The newly built Terminal 3 at Beijing’s Capital Airport (Beijing Capital
International Airport - BCIA) was during this time not only the entrance
gate for the athletes, official and visitor of the games, but primarily
from an advertising point of view a prime location: BMC Flying Dragon had
already earlier entered into a long-term contract with the sponsor Samsung
about a 3D installation with LCD Screens, touch screen and interactive
download possibilities at one of the two BMC exhibition spaces in the T3,
and as of the beginning of July could effectively present at another, new
exhibition space Coca Cola as a sponsor with a reconstruction of the
Olympic stadium (the so-called 'Bird’s nest'). Subsequently, the airport
experts of BMC Flying Dragon managed to commercialize a third exhibition
space, which had been allocated in a bidder method to another company in
2007, by licensing it for one year and selling it to Skoda, a subsidiary of
the Olympic Sponsor Volkswagen. The majority of the light boxes in T3 were
sold to sponsors, with Lenovo the IT giant booking the biggest package, and
further light boxes going to the Chinese telecommunications service
provider CNC-ChinaNetCom.

Railway Station media

The railway station advertising company BMC Skyflying Media could enter on
short notice into advertising contracts with the sponsors China Mobile, Yi
Li Dairy, McDonald’s and UPS for its railway stations in Beijing and
present them for the 2,5 months of the Olympic period in addition to the
existing and regular campaigns. The cooperation in the joint venture
between the partners BMC Advertising and Tianjun (Skyflying Media) was
successful in commencing national sales and first campaigns could be sold
in the cities of Beijing and Guangzhou. BMC Skyflying Media is the first,
the only and by far the leading national supplier of railway station media
in China. In total, the occupancy rate and the price increases obtained
are, however, still behind plan.

Creative Services

The TC group could i. a. successfully organize the AMG promotional tour
(Daimler Benz group) through the most important cities of Germany in the
3rd quarter 2008. Furthermore, new customers could be won and advertising
campaigns realized successfully, among these the first advertising project
in China. This reference project is the base for the entry into the Chinese
advertising market. The acquisition of new customers in China is on a high
level.

Exhibitions & Conferences

The 10th CIOE (China International Optoelectronics Expo) took place in the
Shenzhen Exhibition and Convention Centre from September 6 to 9, 2008. In
its anniversary year this worldwide most important trade fair for the
optoelectronics industry attracted 15% more exhibitors and 10% more
visitors; the exhibition space increased by 18% in comparison to 2007. The
fair was organized by BMC Herong, a subsidiary of Business Media China AG.

The three exhibition halls of the Shenzhen Exhibition and Convention Centre
have been divided into four specialized exhibition areas and presented the
latest developments in the areas of visual communication, laser and
infra-red applications, precision optics as well as LED installations and
displays. During the four trade fair days the organizers recorded more than
85.000 visitors.

The number of the participating companies represents a new record in the
optoelectronics industry: More than 2.173 exhibitors used the CIOE as a
platform to present their latest products and technologies - an increase by
15 % in comparison with the previous year. More than half of the exhibitors
were international companies and brands like JDSU, Olympus, SENKO,
Neophotonics, Schott and Merck.

The highlights of the international exhibition areas were the country
pavilions of Canada and France. The organizers of the pavilions UBIFRANCE
and the Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA) also expressed
their satisfaction and have already reserved exhibition space for 2009. For
the next year, country pavilions are also planned for Germany and Great
Britain.

In addition to the exhibition, the CIOE offered a three-day meeting for
China's optoelectronics industry dealing both with scientific and
application-oriented topics.

The exhibition and the meeting were supported by leading international
industry associations, all important Chinese universities and state
institutions active in the field of optoelectronics.

Administration - Business Media China AG

The admittance of the young shares from previous capital increases, which
heretofore could not be traded, by the BaFin (Federal Office of Financial
Service Supervision) and the German Stock Exchange Frankfurt was finalized
in the second quarter 2008. All shares of the company are now equally
tradable under the security identification number 525040.

Subsequently, the company has applied for and received at end of July the
admittance of the shares in the highest transparency segment of the German
Stock Exchange, the Prime Standard.

Outlook

Given our present views, the fourth quarter may strongly be influenced by
the consequences of the global financial crisis. In the segment of the
advertising media short-term delays, changes in bookings or credit failures
are possible, however, difficult to forecast. The marketing of the new main
station South Beijing started well. Moreover, the shortage of the medium
formats in Beijing due the limitation of the outside advertising space
prior to the Olympics should lead to a tendency of increasing prices.

The prospects for the segment of Exhibitions & Conferences continue to be
positive. It pays off, that BMC has consistently relied on leading fairs
and events. On November 4 and 5, 2008 the second China SMT forum took place
in the Sheraton Hotel Shanghai. With 250 participants from all over the
world the event was the most important meeting on the topic of surface
mountain technology production. China Mining will take place in the Beijing
International Convention Centre from November 11 to 13, 2008. 350
exhibitors and more than 3,000 visitors are expected to participate in
Asia’s most important mining fair and meeting.

The BMC group continues to have a good order backlog in the segments
Exhibitions & Conferences as well as advertising media at the time of this
report. The current stage of planning lets Business Media China AG assume
to achieve group sales of EUR 30 to 35 million in the financial year 2008
with the activities already established. Despite of further improvements,
exceeding the breakeven point for the year 2008 can no longer be expected
at the present time due to the economic uncertainties. For this very reason
- parallel to the growth initiatives continuing as planned - we are
presently initiating several cost saving measures with the aim of lowering
the breakeven threshold of the company in 2009 considerably.

The full quarterly report is available on our website
www.businessmediachina.com.

For more information:

Business Media China AG

Rotebühlstrasse 87

DE-70178 Stuttgart

invest@businessmediachina.com

Edwin van der Geest

+41 43 268 32 30
11.11.2008 Financial News transmitted by DGAP

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Language: English
Issuer: Business Media China AG
Rotebühlstrasse 87
70178 Stuttgart
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)711 490 890 0
Fax: +49 (0)711 490 890 110
E-mail: invest@businessmediachina.com
Internet: www.businessmediachina.com
ISIN: DE0005250401
WKN: 525040
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin, Stuttgart, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf

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