Auckland issues retail revenue warning

Nicole Mezzasalma

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The New Zealand airport has revised its retail revenue forecast for the financial year ending in 2010

Auckland International airport (AIA) has revised its retail revenue forecast for the financial year ending in 2010 in a warning issued to the New Zealand stock exchange. The airport operator said that although “current market consensus” expects the retail component of its revenue to reach about NZ$104m ($63m) in the 2010 financial year, AIA believes “a more likely retail revenue forecast…is in the range NZ$90–93m ($54.5–56.3m)”.

According to AIA CFO Jason Dale, retail revenue will be affected by the “reversion to a dual operator duty-free model, which sacrifices the benefits in terms of scale, penetration and range associated with the single operator model and requires the second operator to establish its market position at the airport”. Dale also cited falling international passenger numbers, reduced consumer spending and disruption to trading due to construction work in the departures area as factors that the market did not take into consideration.

AIA added that there is no change to the previous earnings guidance provided for the 2009 financial year.