FRANCE. Groupe ADP has forecast passenger traffic for 2021 to reach between 45% and 55% of 2019 levels. A full return to 2019 passenger numbers will take until 2024 at the earliest and possibly until 2027, said the company. As reported, traffic fell by -60.4% group-wide year-on-year in 2020, and by -69.4% at the two major Paris airports.
In its annual results, just released, Groupe ADP reported that revenue fell by -54.5% to €2,137 million. This included a -57.1% decline in revenue from retail & services activities at Paris Aéroport to €645 million in the year. Retailing alone fell by -67.7% to €313 million. Spend per passenger in airside shops dipped by -3% to €19.10.
Groupe ADP commented: “Retail activities were considerably reduced in 2020 from mid-March onwards by the introduction of sanitary measures, with periods of confinement having a very negative impact on traffic levels, the quality of the traffic mix and restrictions on shops.
“The profitability of retail subsidiaries (such as Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire and Relay@ADP) and operators was affected, with a significant impact on financing needs. Operators and retail subsidiaries have also resorted to partial activity.
“As a result of the medium-to-long-term decline in revenue forecasts, Groupe ADP is developing an action plan in collaboration with the group’s retail subsidiaries and operators to readapt its operating structures to the new situation.”
From 2020 through to 2022, said the airport company, it plans short-term measures to optimise expenditure and contain debt. Reopening will occur in line with traffic growth. Groupe ADP said it was also aiming to improve the productivity of its partner retailers over the longer term.
“Measures were quickly taken by the retail subsidiaries in the form of partial activity and control of opex and capex. They have thus made it possible to limit their indebtedness as much as possible. Two State-guaranteed loans were taken out by Société de Distribution Aéroportuaire and Relay@ADP for a total amount of €70 million, allowing the retail subsidiaries to maintain their autonomy.”
Group EBITDA was down by -90.5% year-on-year to €168 million, with a net loss attributable to the group of €1,169 million, compared to €588 million in profit in 2019.
Chairman and CEO Augustin de Romanet said: “The year 2020 was marked by the Covid-19 pandemic with a strong impact on all of the group’s activities from March onwards.
“Groupe ADP succeeded in improving its quality of service, its extra-financial rating and in preserving its sales per passenger in Parisian shops. Since August, the group has stabilised its cash position at a high level, enabling it to confidently consider the year 2021. It is pursuing its financial stabilisation plan, in particular by implementing a collective mutually agreed termination agreement signed on 9 December 2020. It anticipates a return to the 2019 traffic level in Paris between 2024 and 2027. Groupe ADP confirms its guidance of a net financial debt/EBITDA ratio between 6x and 7x by the end of 2022, enabling it to lay ground for a new development dynamic in France and abroad.”
