Dufry posts strong growth in 2005

Emily Pacey

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Shop openings and renovations helped Dufry achieve double-digit growth last year

Dufry Group increased its turnover by 12% in 2005 to SFr949.8m ($730.6m), compared with SFr850.5m ($654.3m) in the previous year.
In terms of profitability the company recorded EBITDA of SFr100.1m ($77m) in 2005 against SFr83.8m ($64.5m) in 2004, a rise of 19%.

In Europe Dufry grew sales by 4.8% to SFr327.5m ($252m). The company expects further growth in 2006 thanks to the renovation of its retail area at Milan Malpensa airport and shop openings in Rome Fiumicino, which took place at the end of 2005. It also expressed the hope that new concessions at Spanish airports Tenerife, Mallorca and Bilbao will help drive profits in 2006.

Last year net sales in Dufry's African locations grew by 12.7% to SFr149.9m ($115.3m), which the company attributed partly to store openings in Casablanca and Agadir in the second half of the year.

The retailer's Asian business generated sales of SFr149m ($114.6m), representing a rise of 12.7% over 2004. Again, the retailer claimed this was due to new developments in the region, most importantly a store expansion at Sharjah airport and at Singapore Changi, where several shops were opened in 2004. New stores in Hong Kong International airport will open in 2006.

The Americas generated the highest growth for Dufry last year, with net sales rising by 20.4% to SFr327.5m. Of this increase, SFr22.9m ($17.6m) is a result of consolidation including the acquisition of the remaining 50% of Young Caribbean Jewelry through Dufry's subsidiary Duty Free Caribbean. Dufry said that new airport shops in the Dominican Republic, new stores on board six Norwegian Cruise Lines ships and the new Dufry Boulevard at Mexico City airport will help to drive further growth in 2006.

Dufry Group CEO Julián Díaz said: "In many respects 2005 has been an excellent year for Dufry. We generated strong top-line growth and improved our profitability across the group. This success is a direct result of the implementation of our consistent corporate strategy and we will continue to work hard to be the industry's most innovative and profitable company."

In March this year Dufry bought Brasif Duty Free Shop, Latin America's biggest travel retailer, in a $500m deal which added 51 travel-retail stores to the retailer's portfolio, including 29 duty-free outlets in Brazilian airports (RavenFox.com March 27).