ALSO Continues Expansion and Development of Service Business

EMMEN, SWITZERLAND--(Marketwired - Aug. 24, 2016) - ALSO Group (SIX:ALSN) is pressing ahead with its expansion strategy and developing its service business. The next step in this strategy is complete: ALSO Group has acquired a further stake of 70% in Bachmann Mobile Kommunikation AG, Stans, Switzerland. ALSO's medium-term goal is to increase the portion of total net sales attributable to its service business from 3 percent to 6 percent through inorganic and organic growth. Bachmann is Switzerland's leading provider of repair and logistics services in the consumer electronics and mobile communications after-sales service market.

ALSO originally acquired a 30 percent stake in Bachmann in 2014. This marked the beginning of a fruitful relationship for the two firms in the after-sales service market, providing services to telecommunications firms, manufacturers and resellers. ALSO and Bachmann handle a wide range of services in the area of reverse logistics for a number of major customers such as Swisscom, Sunrise, Salt and Schweizerische Post, including cost calculation, handling, customer hotline and overnight transportation.

"ALSO is pressing ahead with its expansion strategy," said Gustavo Möller-Hergt, CEO of ALSO. "As a B2B marketplace, we intend to offer our customers end-to-end solutions and systematically enhance our high-margin range of products and services. Together with Bachmann, we have been able to offer genuine added value over the past two years thanks to our combined expertise and seamless processes. We have been hugely impressed with the quality and professionalism with which Bachmann operates. And so the inclusion of Bachmann in the ALSO Group and the internationalisation of know-how was a logical step for us."

During the last years Bachmann achieved continuous growth of sales to around 30 million CHF to date. Logistics services will be gradually integrated with the ALSO site in Emmen over the coming months to ensure that processes such as return deliveries are coordinated even more efficiently. Bachmann's sales site and the company headquarters in Stans will remain in place.

Direct link: http://www.also.com/goto/20160824en

ALSO Holding AG (Emmen/Switzerland) brings providers and buyers of the ICT industry together. The company offers services at all levels of the ICT value chain from a single source. In the European B2B marketplace, ALSO bundles logistics services, financial services, supply services, solution services, digital services, and IT services together into individual service packages. ALSO's portfolio contains more than 160 000 articles from some 350 vendors. The Group has around 3 750 employees throughout Europe. In fiscal year 2015 (closing on December 31), the company generated net sales of 7.8 billion euros. The majority shareholder of ALSO Holding AG is the Droege Group, Düsseldorf, Germany. Further information is available at www.also.com.

Droege Group

(Major shareholder)

Droege Group (founded in 1988) is an independent consulting and investment company under full family ownership. The company acts as a specialist for tailor-made restructuring programs aiming to enhance corporate value. Droege Group combines its corporate family-run structure and capital strength into a family-equity business model. The group carries out direct investments with own equity in corporate subsidiaries and medium-sized companies in "special situations". The motto of "The Art of Implementation" has made the group a pioneer of hands-on implementation-oriented corporate development. Droege Group demonstrates its implementation excellence daily within its own portfolio. The entrepreneurially platforms of the Droege Group are aligned to current megatrends (mobility, prevention, digitalization, demography, etc.). Enthusiasm for quality, innovation and speed determines our actions. In this way Droege Group has successfully gained a position in domestic and international markets and operates with over 120 companies in 30 countries. In 2015 the sales volume of Droege Group was 9.2 billion euros. More information: www.droege-group.com

Bachmann Mobile Kommunikation AG (Stans, Switzerland) is a leading provider of after-sales services to the consumer electronics and mobile communications industry. Its customers include a number of renowned manufacturers and leading telecommunications firms in Switzerland. It currently employs some 95 people in Switzerland. Bachmann Mobile Kommunikation AG is part of Bachmann Holding AG, based in Stans, Switzerland. Bachmann Group employs 170 people all over Europe. For more information, visit the website at www.bachmann-ag.org.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the ALSO management. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements made here and the actual development, in particular the results, financial situation, and performance of our Group. The Group accepts no responsibility for updating these forward-looking statements or adapting them to future events or developments.