Nuance raises profits by 11.9%

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The retailer posts improved profits despite a slight dip in sales over 2003

The Nuance Group today announced sales of SFr1.68bn ($1.3bn) for 2003, a drop of just under 2% on 2002. But the group managed to raise operating profits by 11.9% to SFr74.1m ($57m), which the company attributed largely to flexible cost management. Total operating revenue including revenue from joint ventures amounted to SFr1.95bn ($1.5bn), down slightly on 2002.

In Europe, a key region for business development, revenues were up by 7.5 %, which the group said compensated for the 21.2% fall in revenues in Asia, mainly as a result of the SARS crisis last year. The rest of the Pacific region suffered a fall in revenues of 6.5%.

Nuance said in a statement: ?Regional support and a focus on the needs of air passengers helped Nuance to post satisfactory annual results despite the extremely difficult start to 2003 resulting from the Iraq war and SARS. Passenger frequency is trending positively this year, but the air travel industry remains susceptible to external influences. In addition, Nuance is observing changes in passengers' consumption patterns. Nuance believes that airport retailing will slowly recover from last year's collapse and thus expects a slight growth in revenue in 2004.?