NETHERLANDS. B&S Group, which counts travel retailing and distribution among its activities, has recorded Q1 turnover of €420.5 million, down by -1.3% year-on-year (€415.4 million at constant currency rates). Turnover fell by -5.3% in organic terms.
Reaffirming that it has a solid balance sheet and sufficient credit facilities to cover its liquidity needs, the company said the sales decline was to a large extent counterbalanced by the acquisition of the medical supply business of Lagaay and online sales growth.
B&S Group said that its business in the travel sector was severely impacted by COVID-19 related measures, with sales from its international and regional airport retail activities and cruise shops coming to a halt towards the end of March.
The company said it is in close contact with airport partners to come to agreements on the suspension or waiving of lease obligations and concession fees. It added that it has aligned its cost base within the travel retail segment with business volume “to the extent possible” in Q1.
B&S Group CEO Bert Meulman, who highlighted the first signs of recovery in Asian markets at the end of the quarter, said: “As a result of COVID-19 and the measures taken by authorities to limit the spread of the virus, sales volumes in our Asian markets were impacted mainly in the first two months of the first quarter.
“In our food distribution to European cruises and in our travel retail business, sales volumes declined rapidly in the latter part of the first quarter and came to a complete standstill towards the end of March.
“The decrease of business in these markets was to a large extent counterbalanced by good performance of our online health and beauty distribution to platforms and end-customers, as well as by the continuance of our food distribution business to remote areas and our international medical supply during Q1.”
Looking ahead, B&S Group stated that it anticipates sales volumes to decline between -25- and -35% in Q2 on a like-for-like basis due to the continuing COVID-19 impact.
For the second half of 2020, it foresees a partial recovery of overall group sales volumes starting in Q3 with further positive trends towards and in Q4, originating from the growth of online channels and recovery in Asian and European markets.
It noted cruise and other travel retail as exceptions to this, however. Given the seasonality of these two markets, which normally peak in Q2 and Q3, B&S Group does not expect sales volumes to recover in 2020.
