HMSHost shows taste for international expansion

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Following positive financial results announced for the first half-year 2002 (TRW 08/08/02) HMSHost parent company Autogrill has said it is preparing to step up its acquistions

Autogrill ceo Livio Buttignol recently told the Italian media that he is preparing to spend $590m on acquisitions over the next three years. This year Autogrill has already acquired Cisim Food located at Rome airports, another restaurant chain Pasarito and other airport operators in Canada and Spain.

HMSHost said the US travel situation is improving and it expects to enter into some local partnerships, joint ventures and other cooperative agreements outside its home market. "We should be able to get back to something resembling normalcy by 2004," said HMSHost president and ceo John McCarthy. But we can't assume our brands will do the same in Europe as in the US. We recognise that cultures are different."

HMSHost, formerly known as Host Marriott Services, is the leading US airport retailer and food service concessionaire. Its diverse retail business includes over 200 stores in 25 airports plus stores in 60 motorway plazas and 8 tourist locations such as the Houston Space Center and Empire State Building. With operations in 19 countries, the combined HMSHost and Autogrill operation has annual revenues of over $2.6bn.

• See Travel Retailer International October issue for an exclusive interview with HMSHost vice president Joan Ryzner