Jungfrau Lift Co Scores Highest Profit In Its History

Jungfraubahn Holding AG announced in an ad hoc announcement in accordance with Article 53 of the Listing Rules that it reported the highest profit in its history of CHF 79.6 million in the 2023 financial year. 2023 has shown that the V-Bahn strengthens the competitiveness of the Jungfrau Railway Group in both summer and winter. The excursion destinations enjoyed very high demand. The Jungfrau Railway Group's railways generated traffic revenue of 195.9 million francs in 2023. The Board of Directors will propose to the General Meeting a dividend of 6.50 francs per share.

The Jungfrau Railway Group achieved an increase in the 2023 financial year, which ultimately led to the best corporate result in history. Traffic revenue, the most important income component, amounted to 195.9 million francs, 40.7 percent higher than the previous year. Overall, the Jungfrau Railway Group achieved operating income of 278.1 million francs, which corresponds to an increase of 29.9 percent compared to 2022.

Operating expenses of 138.7 million francs rose by 15.3 percent compared to the previous year. Personnel costs increased by 11.2 percent to 71.1 million francs compared to the previous year. The increase in energy purchases was kept moderate thanks to long-term energy supply contracts; the cost of goods increased accordingly due to the increase in sales in the catering industry and in the Top of Europe shops. At 54.4 million francs, other operating expenses were 7.6 million francs higher than the previous year.

At 139.4 million francs, EBITDA reached well over 100 million francs for the first time. EBIT was 99.6 million francs. After a slightly positive financial result and taxes of 20.4 million francs, the annual result was 79.4 percent higher than the previous year at 79.6 million francs.

The Jungfrau Railway Group achieved an operating cash flow of 96.3 million francs. The significant increase in net current assets is due to the fact that 45 million francs were invested in the form of short-term fixed deposits.

Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe

For the first time since 2019 and for the fifth time ever, more than 1 million visitors from all over the world traveled to Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe. With 1,007,000 guests, the number of visitors was 61.1 percent above the previous year and only 4.6 percent below the value of the last pre-crisis year 2019. The traffic revenue in the Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe segment amounted to 136.5 million francs.
A strong increase was particularly noticeable among guests from Southeast Asia, India and the USA. In addition to the numerous individual travelers, groups also increasingly visited the Jungfraujoch. Nevertheless, the travel groups were still around 120,000 guests short of pre-crisis levels, primarily from China and Japan.
The Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe segment achieved sales of 188.2 million francs (+46.9 percent) and an EBITDA of 88.8 million francs (+87.8 percent).

Adventure mountains

The adventure mountains were able to increase significantly once again. All railways achieved new records in terms of traffic revenue. The frequencies from the pre-crisis period were significantly exceeded on the Harderbahn and the Firstbahn and were reached again on the Lauterbrunnen-Mürren mountain railway despite longer interruptions due to renovation work. The increased average revenue from tickets, the higher sales in the rented catering establishments and once again record sales for the soft adventure offers on Grindelwald First show the remarkable development of the adventure mountains.
The adventure mountains achieved traffic revenue of 37.0 million francs, which corresponds to an increase of 35.6 percent compared to the previous year and is therefore higher than the traffic revenue in the winter sports segment for the first time. Overall, the adventure mountains segment generated sales of 45.9 million francs (+22.8 percent) and an EBITDA of 30.0 million francs (+26.1 percent).

Winter sports

The low-snow winter of 2022/2023 and the often warm weather affected the winter sports business in many regions, especially in the foothills of the Alps. Despite the difficult meteorological conditions, the Jungfrau Ski Region recorded the second best result of the last ten years with 1.1 million skier visits. From the start of the new winter season to December 31, 2023, the Jungfrau Ski Region registered 207,800 skier visits. Compared to the same period last season, this represents an increase of 28.1 percent, making it the best start to the season in history.

Over the calendar year, winter sports generated the second highest traffic revenue in the history of the Jungfrau Railway Group at 29.9 million francs. In 2023, the winter sports segment achieved total sales of 41.2 million francs (-1.9 percent) and an EBITDA of 8.3 million francs (-29.0 percent).

Cash flow statement and investments

The cash flow from investing activities amounts to 59.3 million francs. Of this, 36.8 million francs were invested in tangible assets and 22.0 million francs in the form of over-year fixed-term deposits as financial investments. The free cash flow amounted to 37.0 million francs.

The largest ongoing investment project is the renewal of the adhesion track on the Lauterbrunnen-Mürren mountain railway. In 2023, a total of 9.9 million francs were invested in this, which was financed directly or indirectly by the Canton of Bern. Due to the delay in the delivery of the rolling stock, the new rolling stock will be put into operation as scheduled in July 2024.

The Wengernalpbahn invested 7.1 million francs in new rolling stock for the Wengen Shuttle, which went into operation as scheduled on December 10, 2023. This investment was also financed directly by the customers. Other completed investments with a direct benefit for guests include the “Black Rock” snowmaking system on the Eiger Glacier, the staging of arrivals and the renovation of the shop on the Jungfraujoch and the new First View viewing platform.

The Jungfrau Railway Group will continue to strive for development and financing based on solid results in the future. If possible, investments should be financed from self-generated funds. The Jungfrau Railway Group thus underlines its claim to be solidly financed and to be able to operate independently of outside capital providers at all times. This also increases the scope for distributions.

outlook

The start of 2024 was positive at Jungfraujoch. From January 1st to March 31st, 2024, 118,069 guests visited the Top of Europe, which is an increase of 10.5 percent compared to the same period last year (106,852 guests). When it comes to adventure mountains, the numbers for the Firstbahn and the Lauterbrunnen-Mürren mountain railway are encouraging. The Harderbahn started the new season on March 29, 2024.

In the current 2023/2024 winter season, good snow cover enabled continuous winter sports operations from December 2nd, 2023. From the beginning of the season to March 31st, 2024, 1,077,384 skier visits were registered. That is 6.0 percent more than in the same period in the 2022/2023 season.

The trip to the Jungfraujoch - Top of Europe has become significantly more attractive thanks to the unique passage in front of the impressive north face of the Eiger with the Eiger Express, the faster access and the higher transport capacity. Even on peak days, the quality was noticeably increased compared to the time before the V-Bahn, which was also confirmed by guest feedback from all markets.

The corona pandemic has accelerated the trend from group trips to individual trips. The size of travel groups tends to decrease. The Jungfrau Railway Group is taking up these trends with its agile sales systems, specific offers and the connection of new sales channels.

The Board of Directors and the management have defined framework conditions in order to visibly anchor the sustainable use of resources that has been practiced for many years in the business model. With the 2023 annual report, sustainability reporting is carried out for the first time in accordance with the standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Annual report and proposals at the general meeting

The general meeting of Jungfraubahn Holding AG will take place on May 17, 2024 in Interlaken. Due to the positive development, the Board of Directors is proposing the distribution of a dividend of 6.50 francs per share (3.60 francs per share in the previous year). This puts the payout ratio in the middle of the target range of 35 percent to 60 percent.

The annual report of Jungfraubahn Holding AG was created as an online edition for the 2023 reporting year.

Annual report 2023 here