A POSITIVE FIRST QUARTER FOR FIERA MILANO

• Revenues of Euro 92.9 million (+25% year-on-year) helped by a favourable exhibition calendar
• Gross operating profit of Euro 26.2 million compared to Euro 15.5 million in first quarter 2011
• EBIT of Euro 23.2 million compared to Euro 13.8 million in first quarter 2011
• Pre-tax profit of Euro 22.3 million compared to Euro 13.2 million in first quarter 2011
• Net debt falls 22% to Euro 41.0 million since 31 December 2011

The CEO of Fiera Milano SpA, Mr Enrico Pazzali, declared: “We are satisfied with the first quarter results; they reflect the coincidence this year of two important exhibitions, one biennial and one triennial, but also a substantial stability in the overall exhibition business, which is reacting to the ongoing recession with only slight declines in exhibition space utilised. There was a significant increase in the gross operating profit. In the first quarter the new project Food Hospitality World, drawing on our expertise in the food sector (Tuttofood) and professional hospitality (Host), was launched in India and in the future will be held in the Far East and Brazil. In the period under review, the financial position of the Group was further strengthened and this allows us to look with increased confidence at new investments abroad, which we believe are fundamental for the medium/long-term development of the Group; we hope that we can finalise some of these investments in the coming months.
However, our satisfaction is not a sufficient reason to change our highly cautious outlook for the remainder of the year and we confirm the forecasts already communicated to the market; these incorporate the impact that we currently believe the ongoing crisis will have on Fiera Milano’s business activities in the domestic market”.