HIGH : HIGHCO : 2015 Gross profit

Paris, 26 January 2016

HIGHCO POSTS STRONG PICK-UP IN GROWTH IN 2015
AND STRENGTHENS ITS DATA MARKETING BUSINESSES

SHARP PICK-UP IN GROWTH IN 2015 (UP 5.5% LFL) DRIVEN BY DIGITAL

• Q4 2015 gross profit¹ of €20.29 M, up 14% on a reported basis and 13.5% LFL²
• Full-year 2015 gross profit of €75.39 M, up 6.4% on a reported basis and 5.5% LFL
• Continued strong growth in France (Q4: up 11.1% LFL, FY 2015: up 7.3% LFL)
• Excellent performance in Benelux (Q4: up 21.6% LFL, FY 2015: up 5.7% LFL) with a return to growth in International business (Q4: up 18.2% LFL, FY 2015: up 2.6% LFL)
• Outstanding growth in Digital (Q4: up 32.5% LFL, FY 2015: up 26.6% LFL)
• Higher-than-expected improvement in profitability estimated for FY 2015: headline PBIT³ in excess of €11 M. Operating margin (headline PBIT/gross profit) estimated with growth of more than 120 basis points.

¹ Data currently being audited.
² LFL: On a like-for-like basis and at constant exchange rates.
³ Headline PBIT: Profit before interest, tax and restructuring costs.

Didier Chabassieu, Chairman of the Management Board, stated, "This excellent fourth quarter has enabled us to achieve organic growth of 5.5% for the full year 2015, far exceeding our most recent guidance. France, still driven by digital business, maintains its excellent performance, while Benelux has returned to an encouraging rate of growth. Building on this solid performance, we expect FY 2015 profitability to exceed the targets we set during the year."

STRONG PICK-UP IN FY 2015 ORGANIC GROWTH AT 5.5%

HighCo recorded strong business growth in Q4 2015, up 14% on a reported basis and 13.5% like for like (LFL) to €20.29 M. Rising 32.5% LFL in Q4 2015, Digital is once again the Group's growth driver. The share of digital business increased from 39.2% in Q4 2014 to 45.3% in Q4 2015.

The Group recorded FY 2015 gross profit of €75.39 M, up 6.4% on a reported basis and 5.5% LFL. Digital businesses grew 26.6% LFL in 2015, up from 34.8% of the Group's gross profit in 2014 to 41.3% in 2015. Offline businesses declined 5.6% LFL in 2015 and represented 58.7% of gross profit for FY 2015.

CONTINUED STRONG GROWTH IN FRANCE

The strong business growth in France in Q4 2015 (up 11.1% LFL) to €13.05 M results from the excellent performance of Digital (up 32% LFL). In 2015, gross profit totalled €48.04 M in France, rising 7.3% LFL. As such, the French businesses accounted for 63.7% of Group gross profit in 2015.

• The fully digital Drive to Store businesses (Webcoupons, social media and mobile marketing) showed very strong growth (number of digital coupons issued up 23%, SMS/push notifications up 14%).
• Overall, the In-Store businesses declined slightly, but Click & Collect website services for the main retailers in France grew significantly.
• The DATA businesses expanded further.

The share of digital business once again exceeded the target of 50% of gross profit in France in Q4 2015 and came to 49.2% for FY 2015.

EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE IN BENELUX AND RETURN TO GROWTH IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

International gross profit amounted to €7.24 M in Q4 2015, up 18.2% LFL. In 2015, international gross profit stood at €27.35 M, a LFL increase of 2.6%. International businesses accounted for 36.3% of Group gross profit in 2015.

• Benelux boasted an outstanding fourth quarter (up 21.6% LFL), with a better-than-expected performance for IN-STORE and DATA businesses. The region fully resumed growth in 2015, rising 5.7% LFL. Benelux accounted for 30.6% of Group gross profit in 2015.
• Southern Europe (Spain and Italy) also grew in Q4 and FY 2015, with the successful launch of mobile businesses in Italy. This region represented 1.2% of Group gross profit in 2015.
• Business continued to fall in the United Kingdom in Q4 2015, but the decline was less significant than over the first nine months of the year. The country represented 4.5% of Group gross profit in 2015.

HIGHER-THAN-EXPECTED IMPROVEMENT IN PROFITABILITY ESTIMATED FOR 2015

Based on the 2015 year-end closing in progress, HighCo projects headline PBIT of more than €11 M, representing growth of about 16% (reported 2014 headline PBIT of €9.52 M). Estimated operating margin (headline PBIT/gross profit) is expected to climb more than 120 basis points (13.4% in 2014).

Estimated net cash⁴, including working capital resources from the DATA businesses, totalled more than €40 M at 31 December 2015 (€38.24 M at 30 June 2015 and €31.21 M at 31 December 2014).

2015 annual earnings will be released on 21 March after market close. A financial analysts' meeting is scheduled for 22 March at 2.30 p.m.

⁴ Net cash: cash (asset) minus gross financial debt (liability).

FOR 2016, HIGHCO MAINTAINS ITS DIGITAL STRATEGY BY STRENGTHENING ITS DATA MARKETING BUSINESSES WITH THE ACQUISITION OF CAPITALDATA

With the development of digital technology, brands and retailers can better understand their consumers and address their needs. These advances have completely disrupted market dynamics.

Data, now the primary focus of digital investments, are used to target and personalise messages more precisely and to optimise relevant and effective desktop and mobile campaigns, while making it easier to measure their impact.

HighCo, convinced of the key role data will play for its advertising clients, is strengthening its data marketing businesses with the acquisition of CapitalData.

CapitalData provides big data integration and development solutions that are used to automate and meaningfully personalise marketing with its three proprietary modules:

• A Data Management Platform (DMP) to process and store data, which streamlines all the data flows available to the advertiser;
• A recommendation engine used to personalise advertising messages in real time, with more effective scenarios and segmentation for each advertiser;
• Connectors used for cross-channel messaging, especially emailing, banners, mobile displays or social media.

CapitalData, founded and led by Didier Parisot, generated €0.6 M in revenue in 2015. It provides advertising and promotional targeting services for prestigious clients including voyageprive.com and Parc Astérix.

Didier Chabassieu, Chairman of the Management Board, stated, "We'll continue developing our digital businesses in 2016, focusing on data marketing to boost our expertise in targeting and personalisation. The acquisition of CapitalData marks a new step forward to attain our strategic goals."

About HighCo

Since its creation, HighCo has placed innovation at the heart of its values, offering its clients - brands and retailers - Intelligent Marketing Solutions to influence shopper behaviour with the right deal, at the right time, at the right place and on the right channel.
Operating in 14 countries, HighCo has nearly 900 employees and is listed in compartment C of Euronext Paris and in the Gaia Index, a selection of 70 responsible Small and Mid Caps, winning first prize in its category (revenue < €150 M) for 2015.

Your contacts

Olivier Michel                                                    Géraldine Myoux
Managing Director                                             Press Relations
+33 1 77 75 65 06                                              +33 1 77 75 64 67
comfi@highco.com                                             g.myoux@highco.com

Upcoming events

Publications take place after market close.

2015 Annual Earnings: Monday, 21 March 2016
SFAF financial analysts meeting: Tuesday, 22 March 2016 at 2.30 pm (location TBC)
Q1 2016 Gross Profit: Tuesday, 26 April 2016
Q2 and H1 2016 Gross Profit: Tuesday, 19 July 2016
2016 Half-year Earnings: Wednesday, 31 August 2016
Conference call on 2016 half-year earnings: Thursday, 1 September 2016
Q3 and 9-month YTD 2016 Gross Profit: Wednesday, 19 October 2016
Q4 2016 Gross Profit: Tuesday, 24 January 2017

HighCo is a component stock of the indices CAC® Small (CACS), CAC® Mid&Small (CACMS) and CAC® All-Tradable (CACT).
ISIN: FR0000054231
Reuters: HIGH.PA
Bloomberg: HCO FP
For further financial information and press releases, go to www.highco.com:
http://www.highco.com/