A partial judgment has been made in the arbitration case initiated by Hogg Robinson against Kuoni. The ruling rejects the large majority of Hogg Robinson’s claims against Kuoni in monetary terms. Hogg Robinson asked the Geneva Chamber of Commerce in October 2005 to arbitrate on its claims against Kuoni arising from the sale of Kuoni’s former BTI Central Europe strategic business unit.

Hogg Robinson was demanding over CHF 230 million from Kuoni in connection with the sale under various claims arising, it alleged, from the sale agreement of December 2003. The court of arbitration has now ordered Kuoni to pay Hogg Robinson around CHF 6 million plus accrued interest, to pay a still-to-be-determined compensatory damages amount for Hogg Robinson’s loss of earnings through the non-transfer of individual business clients, and to transfer the clients concerned.

Hogg Robinson had claimed a single-digit-million-Swiss-franc amount for its loss of earnings from these non-transferred customers. Kuoni contests the amount of damages to which Hogg Robinson claims it is entitled. All Hogg Robinson’s further claims against Kuoni were definitively rejected by the court in its partial ruling.

The court will determine the precise amount of compensatory damages to be paid to Hogg Robinson for the non-transfer of individual business clients, and will also rule on how these customers should now be transferred, at a later date.

The Kuoni Group made provisions for the risks associated with these legal proceedings in previous years. On the basis of this partial court judgment, Kuoni considers these provisions to be adequate to meet any costs which it may incur in connection with these proceedings.