FRANCE/INTERNATIONAL. Lagardère Services – parent company of Aelia, Lagardère Services Asia Pacific, HDS Retail North America and owner of the Relay brand – posted sales of €2,517 million in the first nine months of 2009. This was down by -2.5% on a like-for-like basis, and -3.7% on a reported basis compared to a year earlier.
Compared with the nine months to the end of September 2008 the division was hit by negative exchange rate effects of €60 million, mainly due to rises in the average rate of the Euro against the Polish Zloty (+28%) and the Hungarian Forint (+14%).
Retail (which accounts for two-thirds of Lagardère Services revenues) held steady thanks to the opening of new sales outlets, while press distribution revenues fell by more than -8% (or -6.5% excluding the effect of the closure of operations in Poland).
The group said: “Revenues at Aelia are being eroded by reduced air travel, and this trend accelerated slightly in the third quarter of 2009. Conversely, the slight uptrend in sales at Relay France seen in the second quarter was confirmed, even though the print media market remained depressed.”
It added: “Retail activities followed the same trends as in the first half of the year: double-digit growth in Romania thanks to expansion of the store network, limited growth in Germany and the Czech Republic, and a decline in sales in Hungary. In Spain, the trend – though still negative – was more favourable than in the first half of the year.”
Looking ahead, the company said that a recovery in air travel could lead to “a slight recovery in the pace of top-line growth, especially in Asia”.
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