Autogrill reveals positive results for 2007

Andrew Pentol

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The company said that growth in revenues during the year “was driven by the airport channel”

Italian group Autogrill has announced its results for 2007, when consolidated revenue was up 23.7% to €4.86bn ($7.67bn) and net profits increased by 4.1% to €158.7m ($250m). Consolidated EBIDTA also rose by 9.6% to €563.3m ($888m). The company said in a statement that the growth was driven by good sales in the airport channel, which reached €2.4bn ($3.79bn)—up by 25.8% compared to the previous year. Autogrill attributed organic sales growth of 12.4% to good results in North America, Italy and also from Aldeasa, while turnover of €625.8m ($987m) was boosted by new acquisitions including Alpha Airports Group, which generated consolidated sales of €320.4m ($505m).

The company also said the biggest increases in terms of revenue share by type of business were in its retail and duty-free arms, which represented 31.7% of Autogrill’s total revenue compared with 29.3% in 2006. The retail and duty-free contribution to the company’s revenue grew from €1.15bn ($1.81bn) to €1.53bn ($2.42bn).

From February 1 to December 31 2007, Alpha registered a rise of 5.1% in revenues to £550.6m ($1.11bn), with travel-retail and food and beverage revenue up 5.7% to £260.2m ($525.4m). Inflight revenues rose 4.6% to £290.4m ($586m) thanks to a 35.5% revenue increase from contracts outside of the UK, mainly in Jordan, Central Europe and Australia.

Spanish travel retailer Aldeasa, which Autogrill now controls following its purchase of Altadis’ 49.95% share in March, registered the strongest growth in revenue of all the group’s geographical-organisational areas, up 14.7% to €830.3m ($1.3bn) compared with 2006. According to Autogrill, Aldeasa’s airport revenue grew 16% to €812m ($1.27bn), enjoying positive results in Spain (up 10.3%) and overseas (up 38.9%), where new openings in Vancouver and Atlanta strengthened operations.

This year Autogrill has won catering contracts at Singapore Changi and Belfast City airports, acquired UK retail operator World Duty Free from BAA and the remaining stake of Aldeasa, and Alpha has acquired Air Czech’s catering division.