Aeroporti di Roma retail shows signs of improvement

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Italian operator AdR reports increased revenues for third quarter of the yea, but retail continues to find the going tough.

Italian airport operator Aeroporti di Roma (AdR) has reported a slight increase in income for the third quarter 2003. Total revenues for the period were ?142.7m ($165.9m)?a 2.3% improvement on the same period 2002. Retail operations also showed signs of improvement.

AdR, which runs Rome's Fiumicino and Ciampino airports, claimed that performance during the summer had compensated for the downturn of early 2003. The group's retail income rallied a little after a disappointing first half of the year, with revenues down 4.1% during the nine months to September 30, improving from a shortfall of 9.3% in the first six months.

The company said: "Directly managed and third party retail outlets were penalised by the change in the type of traffic using the system. The increase in traffic was represented by low spending passengers. Despite this, the 5% improvement [in traffic] seen in the third quarter has enabled directly managed retail outlets to regain some of the ground lost with respect to 2002."

Overall, the group reported a net loss of ?5.7m ($6.6m) for the first nine months of the year, but said: "The parent company continues to recover ground during the second half of the year, after the substantial loss of ?9.2m ($10.7m) in the first half."