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The Fashion Gallery at Changi T2: One of the headline openings of the year for LS Travel Retail in Asia Pacific |
FRANCE/INTERNATIONAL. LS Travel Retail, a division of Lagardère Services, has revealed that travel retail sales hit €1,153.6 million in the first half of 2011, growing by +8.1% against the same period in 2010 and +5.9% on a like-for-like basis.
The company hailed a “robust performance,” which was driven by sustained expansion – with new concessions being won in airports and train stations, as well as the acquisition of new activities in Asia Pacific and in Europe. Despite “highly challenging market conditions,” there was also a strong increase in sales per passenger (SPP).
The company said: “LS Travel Retail’s ambitious growth strategy has been underpinned by a holistic programme of enhanced support to drive performance, including marketing, category management, promotion planning and staff training. In addition, the organisational restructuring programme that was carried out at the start of 2011, creating regional divisions, has helped to further consolidate the group’s performance, as has the strengthening of long-term partnerships with a number of landlords.”
It added: “Against a backdrop of continuing global downturn, the market conditions were volatile in the period being impacted by extreme weather, upheaval in the Arab region and natural disasters in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Chile.
Dag Rasmussen, Chairman and CEO of Lagardère Services, said: “I’m delighted that we continue to demonstrate our exceptional ability to drive stronger performance across our travel retail operations, not only in our established operations but also in the way in which we have created a powerful sales impact right from day one across a number of significant new contracts and locations in Europe and Asia Pacific.
“I’m particularly pleased that we are regularly winning new contracts across the product categories, in everything from F&B to luxury, and across our geographical spread of operations.”
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Dag Rasmussen: “We are regularly winning new contracts across the product categories, in everything from F&B to luxury, and across our geographical spread of operations” |
He added: “Our new operating model has already developed a strong momentum and our regional focus is supporting stronger relationships, particularly with our airport partners, and is driving better performance. Market conditions remain challenging but we are confident that we can continue to deliver an exceptional performance for our landlords and ourselves and maintain our growth strategy in the second half of the year.”
LS Travel Retail EMEA delivered strong growth across its operations in France, with a rise of +12.8% in duty free & luxury sales, including a particularly strong contribution from fashion. Improvements to the product mix ensured a +5.6% increase in the news & gifts turnover on a like-for-like basis.
The start of the year was marked also by the renewal of the partnership between Aéroports de Paris and Aelia until 2019 and by the creation of a new common company for the operation of news, convenience & souvenirs points of sale. The first of these, under the Air de Paris banner, opened on April 1 and a further dozen openings are scheduled by the end of 2013.
Additionally, the duty free concessions in Lyon and Grenoble airports have been renewed for 10 years.
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Europe: The company has also developed a food service offer by presenting several concepts, including the TRIB’s brand, which will appear on four forthcoming points of sale on the new Rhine-Rhône high-speed railway line. LS Travel Retail France has also won the foodservice tender at Montpellier Airport.
In Poland, the 11 duty free & luxury stores grew sales by +14.1%, mainly in Warsaw Airport. In Germany, the company won the concession for seven new stores at Frankfurt Airport, bringing the total number of stores to 36, including a new Virgin Media. The openings are planned to take place in 2012. A Discover Bavaria souvenirs shop also opened at Munich Airport.
In the UK & Ireland, a new store (Aelia Duty Free) opened in London City Airport on June 1, reinforcing the group’s presence in the UK.
In the Czech Republic, travel retail sales across airports, railways and the metro rose by +15.3%. SPP for duty free and luxury in airports grew by +27% compared with the previous period.
In Budapest, three new points of sale opened in the new airport extension: a Relay point of sale, a One Minute convenience store and a Costa Coffee store.
In Bulgaria, there were three new notable openings: a Relay point of sale in Sofia Airport, two One Minute convenience points of sale in Burgas Airport and in the Sofia metro.
Following recent tender wins in Spain, a second fashion outlet (180sq m) opened in the new terminal at Alicante Airport in spring 2011, following the opening of a first multi-brand airport fashion outlet in Malaga T3.
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Asia Pacific: In Asia, the addition of 14 new outlets has brought the total number of stores in the region to 67.
Key store openings and tenders won in Asia in H1 include:
• So Chocolate: a 310sq m specialist store dedicated to chocolate retailing, opened in May 2011 at Changi Airport Terminal 1
• 14 news and books outlets will soon open on the new high-speed railway line between Shanghai and Beijing.
• 27 news and gifts outlets will open by the end of 2011 in the Shenzhen metro.
Pacific region: In spite of the challenging events in the region and a high Australian dollar, turnover in the region rose by +2.3% on a like-for-like basis.
In April 2011, LS Travel Retail Pacific acquired the travel retail outlets of REDGroup, including 11 news and gifts stores in the four main airports in New Zealand: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Rotorua.
Other store openings and tenders won in the Pacific in H1 include:
• Discover Australia: a 180sq m store recently opened in Melbourne, Australia.
• Two duty-free stores at Nouméa International Airport which have been operated by LS Travel retail since January 2011. After reconstruction, the stores will be 470sq m in the departures area and 100sq m in the arrivals area.
North America: A concession recently won at Edmonton Airport and a new concession comprising three points of sale at Dallas Airport will contribute an additional turnover of almost €11 million, said the group. Openings are scheduled in 2012 and 2013.
