Strong rand sparks Tourvest acquisition hunt

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The growing strength of the South African rand is encouraging local tourism company and parent of the eponymous duty-free operator Tourvest to seek acquisitions, the company revealed at a trading update this week

Tourvest ceo Tommy Edmond accepted that the strong rand - at around R7 to the dollar now as opposed to almost R10 six months ago - had dissuaded some tourists and dented their purchasing power in the country. But he remained confident that passenger numbers would not be severely affected, although the company was preparing for a change in spending patterns.

But the currency situation has also opened buy-out opportunities in the local market, which Edmond said would be ?aggressively pursued?, despite the company's estimate that revenue for the six months to December would be over 30% lower than in the same period last year.

"Our businesses are all operationally sound," he said, ?and every effort has and is being taken to ensure that costs are reduced where appropriate to lessen the impact of the fall in revenues."

Tourvest Duty Free recently echoed its parent's intention to grow business rather than consolidate when it won the two-year Virgin Atlantic inflight concession from Aeroboutique. Edmond said that the move, supplemented by Tourvest's established inflight business with South African Airways, showed the operator turning into a serious player in the inflight market.