Dufry sales turnover rises 4.2%

Bill Lumley

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The travel retailer reported growth in turnover in the first half of the year despite negative accounting effects from devaluation of the US dollar.

Dufry Group's sales turnover grew by 4.2% to SFr934.8m ($841.3m) in the first six months of 2008 after conversion to Swiss francs. EBITDA rose by 14.8% to SFr121.6m ($109.5m), resulting in an EBITDA margin increase of 1.2% to 13%.

Turnover during the period measured on constant foreign exchange rates rose 15.3% with organic growth accounting for 10.9% while new projects contributed 4.4% to turnover growth.

Growth in Africa continued with turnover of SFr92.6m ($83.5m), up by 20.4%, while turnover in Europe remained flat at SFr199.3m ($178.9m) compared to SFr199.6m ($179.1m) in 2007.

Turnover in North America and the Caribbean fell by 12.1% to SFr207.5m ($187m) compared with the same period last year due to the translation effects resulting from the devaluation of the US dollar. On constant FX terms, turnover was stable. Within the region, the US and several of the Caribbean islands had a very good performance with double-digit growth whereas the Mexican operations and some other Caribbean locations posted lower turnover.

Meanwhile, turnover in South America grew by 10.9% to SFr310.2m ($279.6m). In local currencies, turnover growth was 30%, backed by a passenger growth of 7%, a favourable economic environment in Brazil with a strengthening of the purchase power for US dollar-based products, and productivity improvements related to operational measures.

In a statement Dufry said its operational performance in terms of profitability continued to improve in the first half despite the negative effects of the devaluation of the US dollar. It reported that its growth strategy remains unchanged and that it is committed to delivering on organic growth as well as new projects.

Dufry Group CEO Julian Diaz said: “We are very pleased with the results as they demonstrate that Dufry’s business model is robust even in today’s challenging environment. Although passenger growth rates are expected to soften in the near future, we need to bear in mind that in the past years, we saw an extraordinary fast passenger growth, well above the 4-4.5% passenger growth forecast in the mid- and long-term. As the latest figures illustrate, our diversified concession portfolio and broad geographical presence relatively protect us against any negative regional impacts, and confirm that our strategy of diversification works and we will continue to consider this to be an important strategic development.”