The Jungfrau Railway Group also recorded a new record high of CHF 143.8 million (+ 14.1%) in terms of its most important source of income – traffic revenue. The EBIT margin increased by 5.9% on the previous year to 27.4%. The return on sales was 21.5%. The reporting year saw an annual profit of 41.6 million Swiss francs.

Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe.
Excursions to the Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe benefited from the diversification of the markets as well as the significantly stronger demand from Asia compared with 2016. The best results in the history of the Jungfrau Railway could be achieved, both in terms of visitor numbers and transport income. With 1,041,500 visitors, more than a million guests travelled to the Jungfraujoch in the reporting year, for the second time since 2015. At CHF 107.2 million, the net transport income of the Jungfraujoch segment rose by 14.8% on the previous year. At the same time, an increase of 1 Swiss franc was achieved for the average yield.

Experience Mountains
For all Experience Mountains, which include excursion transport to Harder Kulm, First and Winteregg-Mürren, the Jungfrau Railway Group registered record results. With an increase of 21.1 per cent in total, net transport income could once again be significantly increased. For the Experience Mountains overall, a 2.8 million higher transport income was generated than in the previous year, with 15.9 million francs.

Winter Sports
For the Winter Sports segment, the result of the start of 2017 until the end of the season in spring 2017 was below average. However, thanks to the early snowfall and cold temperatures, Jungfrau Railways was able to start the 2017/2018 winter sports season as early as mid-November 2017 and offer continuous winter sports operations in Grindelwald and Wengen early on. The Jungfrau Ski Region is a co-operation in which the Jungfrau Railway Group holds more than 60%. In 2017, 936,500 new entries were recorded throughout the Jungfrau Ski Region. For the Winter Sports segment, the net transport income could be increased from 2016 by 6.5 per cent. However, with 20.7 million francs in comparison with the good winter sports years 2007/2008, it remains unchanged at a low level.

*Other segments include, in particular, the Jungfraubahn power station, Jungfraubahnen Management AG and the Lauterbrunnen car park.

 
Investments
The Jungfrau Railway Group invested 29,8 million francs in the reporting year. Some of the investment priorities were measures to improve the value of the offer for visitors, such as the new pavilion at the Harder Kulm restaurant and the new “First Glider” adventure attraction on the Grindelwald-First Experience Mountain.  

By the end of 2017, 108 million Swiss francs were spent on the V-Cableway project since the start of planning, in which the Jungfrau Railway Group wants to invest a total of 320 million Swiss francs. Over CHF 90 million of this was used for the renewal of the rolling stock on the Wengernalp and Jungfrau Railways, whereby important elements of the V-project could be implemented.

Outlook
The 2018 financial year began slowly in the Jungfraujoch segment. Due to heavy gales in January, operation was affected for a total of ten days with partial or complete closures. From 1 January to 31 March 2018, 114,428 guests visited the Top of Europe. Compared to the same period in the record previous year, there was a slight decline of 7,673 guests, or 6.3%.

Despite an early start in November 2017, the winter sports business continued to be challenging in the 2017/2018 season. From the start of the season in mid-November 2017 to Easter Monday, 2 April 2018, the Jungfrau Ski Region recorded 938,820 skier visits, an increase of 12.3 per cent on the 2016/2017 winter sports season. Nevertheless, shortly before the end of the season, the number of visitors is still at a low level compared with the good winter sports years of 2007/2008.

The Jungfrau Railway Group's main strategic project is the V-Cableway, which will strengthen the competitiveness of Jungfraujoch as a world famous hotspot, as well as the Jungfrau Ski Region as a top winter sports destination. The remaining objections could be settled by the end of February 2018. The Jungfrau Railway Group expects to receive the building permit from the Federal Office of Transport (BAV) by the end of May 2018, which will ensure the timely commissioning of the Grindelwald-Männlichen gondola lift and the opening of the “Eigerexpress” tricable gondola in December 2020.

Change in the management board
As Jungfraubahn Holding AG communicated at the end of November 2017, former executive board member Bruno Hofweber will not stand for re-election at the 2018 AGM. Since then, the Board of Directors has considered possible succession and has decided to propose lawyer Dr Catrina Luchsinger Gähwiler to the AGM as a new member. The proven expert in mergers and acquisitions, capital & financial market law and corporate governance & compliance has been a partner at law firm Froriep Legal AG in Zurich since 2007, where she had previously worked as a lawyer for seven years. The 51-year-old is a member of the Swiss Asian Chamber of Commerce, the Shanghai Business Club and the International Pacific Bar Association, among others. She is married, has a son and lives with her family in Zollikerberg / Zurich.

Annual Report & applications to the AGM
The Jungfrau Railway Group General Meeting will take place in Interlaken on 14 May 2018. The management board proposes an increase in the dividend from 2.10 to 2.40 francs.
The Jungfraubahn Holding AG Annual Report was created as an online annual report for the reporting year 2017. This has been published under the following link:
Annual Report 2017: www.jungfrau.ch/geschaeftsbericht