Retail continues to lift BAA

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BAA reports retail growth thanks to improving passenger numbers

BAA today reported improvements in net retail income and income per passenger for the six months to September 30 2003. In the period, traffic increased by 2.5%, net retail income increased by 4.4% to £286m ($483m) and net retail income per passenger rose by 1.8% to £3.98 ($6.72).

UK airport retailing, including the operations of World Duty Free, continued to perform strongly in the summer, with net retail income in the second quarter up by 5.4% to £156m ($264m) and net retail income per passenger up 2.8% at £3.97 ($6.70). In the same period, traffic increased by 2.8%. The recovery in passenger numbers at Heathrow resulted in improved performance in the long haul terminals at Heathrow three and four compared to the first quarter.

BAA group retail director Brian Collie said: ?This is an excellent result for our retailing businesses. I am proud of my team and their tenacity in continuing to work positively through the challenges of the first quarter, with its notably difficult trading conditions. They then went on to maximise the opportunities of the strong passenger numbers in the summer, to add even greater growth. Our catering business and specialist shops across the group have performed well, boosted by the introduction of many new concepts and stores at Stansted and Heathrow's Terminal 3 in particular. World Duty Free has delivered an exceptional performance in all core categories with notable success in Summer Fragrance and Champagne promotions, which shows that the mature category ranges continue to perform well. These examples prove that our policy of maximising the offer available to all passengers will stand us in good stead for the expansion of the EU next May."

BAA chief executive Mike Clasper said: ?August 2003 was our busiest month ever. A record number of passengers and a strong performance from our retail business over the summer has helped to mitigate the effects of the Iraq War and SARS in the first quarter. We continue to forecast traffic growth for the year of 4% across our UK airports.?