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“We saw improvements we were expecting when comparing to previous quarters. This confirms our view that organic growth will see a gradual improvement along the year and will end up positive for the whole year.“ |
Julián Díaz CEO Dufry |
INTERNATIONAL. Dufry today reported Q1 turnover growth of +60.0% to CHF1,630.2 million (US$1,707 million) buoyed by the continuing integration of World Duty Free and an improvement in organic sales growth. However, net earnings fell sharply to CHF -85.6million in the quarter, compared to CHF -9.0 million a year earlier.
Gross profit margin climbed by 110 basis points to 58.6% from 57.5%. EBITDA increased by +59.2% to CHF146.5 million (US$153.4 million), maintaining the previous year’s margin level of 9.0%.
Cash flow from operating activities and free cash flow generation hit CHF118.9 million and CHF78.8 million respectively, in the lowest quarter of the year. The World Duty Free integration (to be completed by mid-2017) is proceeding “according to plan”, and will remain a focus area for the year, along with the acceleration of organic growth, cash generation and deleveraging, the company said.
The first quarter, noted the retailer, “was characterised by an ongoing improvement of organic growth performance driven by several factors such as a strong performance in Southern Europe, a stabilisation of emerging market currencies as well as the continued acceleration of commercial and marketing activities”.
Dufry CEO Julián Díaz said: “We had a good start in 2016, with the continuation of the improving organic growth trends we started to see in Q4 2015. Europe had another strong quarter and countries impacted by Brazilians and Russians continued to recover. Overall we saw improvements as we were expecting when comparing to previous quarters. This confirms our view that organic growth will see a gradual improvement along the year and will end up positive for the whole year.
“The wide range of initiatives to accelerate organic growth which Dufry launched in the second half of 2015 such as the refurbishment plan, the brands plan as well as the customer retention and promotional activities confirm their success by showing good results and will thus be continued.
“In the first quarter we have opened 4,500sq m of retail space and have another 22,000sq m already signed for opening in the current business year, equal to over 5% of our current retail space.
“One of the priorities for 2016 is the integration of World Duty Free. Most of the planning phase is already completed and we are already executing on the several action plans. The initial synergy targets remain unchanged at €100 million.
“We believe that there will be volatility in some markets but provided that currency levels remain relatively stable, we expect overall improving performance.
“As for developed markets, Southern Europe – particularly Spain, Greece and Italy – report record numbers of bookings and we expect to have a very strong performance in those markets along 2016.”
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Turnover growth
In the first quarter of 2016, turnover continued to show strong growth as a result of the further improved organic growth and of changes in scope, noted Dufry. Reported turnover grew by +60.0% reaching CHF1,630.2 million. While changes in scope added 63.0%, organic growth improved by 1.3 percentage points to -5.2% from the fourth quarter 2015. In reported terms, like-for-like growth reached -6.2% and the contribution from net new concessions was 1.0%. The FX translation impact was 2.2%.
On a pro-forma basis – which offers a better comparison with the year-on-year performance of the entire group including WDF – organic growth improved by 2.4 percentage points to 0.1% in the first quarter of 2016 from -2.3% in Q4 2015. Although this is the least important quarter due to seasonality and a quarter in which locations with strong growth have a lower weight, this reflects the improvement in several emerging markets, as well as the higher diversification of the business, claimed Dufry.
Southern Europe and Africa
Turnover reached CHF286.9 million in the first quarter of 2016, from CHF125.3 million one year before. The underlying growth in the division reached +6.6%, mainly as a result of the strong double-digit growth seen in Spain. Other countries in Southern Europe also performed well, as it was the case of France, Italy, Malta and Portugal. Although the first quarter represents the lowest quarter in terms of seasonality, operations exposed to Russian consumers, showed opposite developments – while Turkey continued to see weak performance due to the absence of Russian consumers, trends in Greece were maintained, confirming the high booking rates announced for the current year.
Central and Eastern Europe
Turnover grew to CHF427.6 million in the first quarter of 2016, versus CHF150.3 million in the previous year. Underlying growth in the division reached +3.4%. Most of the operations performed well, said Dufry, supported by a solid growth in the number of passengers across Europe, with the exception of Eastern European operations. In Russia operations continue to face a difficult environment, but “started to see signs of small improvements”.
Asia, Middle East and Australia
Turnover hit CHF187.2 million in the first quarter of 2016, against CHF137.0 million in the same period in 2015. The underlying growth in the division was +0.1%. Operations in the Middle East and India did well, with Jordan and Sri Lanka the best performers. In Southern Asia, Cambodia and Indonesia also showed a good performance and in Northern Asia, South Korea “continues to perform extraordinary well and helped mitigating the lower trading seen in China”.
Latin America
Reported turnover reached CHF351.8 million in Q1 2016 from CHF327.1 million one year earlier. Operations in Central America and Caribbean saw a “positive performance”, benefiting from an overall increase in passenger numbers, particularly by Americans, due to the strong US Dollar.
On the other hand, South America was impacted by the devaluation of local currencies, resulting in underlying growth in the division of -13.1%. The devaluation of 66% year-on-year in Q1 2016 of the Argentinean Peso impacted sales in Argentina, while Brazil continued to see a gradual improvement in the business, based on the stabilisation of the Brazilian Real in recent months.
North America
Turnover reached CHF367.3 million compared to CHF267.1 million in the first quarter of 2015. Underlying growth reached +4.9%, as a result of strong performance of Hudson and other duty paid concepts. On the duty free side, the stronger US Dollar positively impacted business in Canada, while the opposite effect was seen in the USA.
Seasonality hits profits
In terms of seasonality, the first quarter is the “least important period of the year for both, turnover and profitability” noted Dufry. The acquisitions of Nuance and WDF have further enhanced this seasonality effect with corresponding impacts on EBITDA margin and even more so on net earnings, it added. As a consequence, profits and cash generation will be more concentrated in the second and third quarters.
Gross profit margin improved by 110 basis points to 58.6% in Q1 2016 from 57.5% in the previous year. Gross margin on constant scope improved by 50 basis points, mainly driven by the synergies of the Nuance integration. The gross margin varies by quarter, according to the seasonality of certain regions, Dufry noted.
EBITDA reached CHF146.5 million and grew by +59.2% year-on-year. EBITDA margin was 9.0% in the first quarter of 2016, positively impacted by the higher gross margin as well as personnel and general expenses. On the other hand, the consolidation of WDF also generated an increase in concession fees.
EBIT reached CHF -39.5 million in the year to March compared to CHF4.6 million in the same period in 2015. Depreciation remained nearly stable as a percentage of turnover (2.5%) and amortization of CHF96.7 million was practically unchanged in absolute terms as compared to Q4 2015.
Linearization (non-cash accounting treatment in regards to certain Spanish concessions) reached CHF -43.1 million. Linearization varies by quarter and due to seasonality the first quarter charge is more than half of the full year amount. Other operational results (net) were CHF -5.4 million, with most of the restructuring costs of WDF still to be incurred and accounted for in the next quarters.
Net earnings to equity holders stood at CHF -85.6million in the first quarter of 2016, compared to CHF -9.0 million one year earlier. Financial results reached CHF50.4 million in the first quarter 2016, in line with the fourth quarter 2015 when excluding one-offs in the previous period. Income tax was positive by CHF9.9 million, impacted mainly by deferred taxes. The constant quarterly charges of amortization and interest expenses as well as the linearization “accentuate the seasonality of the business in the net earnings” said Dufry.
Cash earnings, which add back the acquisition-related amortization, reached CHF -2.7million from CHF 39.0 million in the same period in 2015 mainly because of the linearization charge.
Net cash flow from operating activities reached CHF119.0 million before acquisition-related cash outflows in the first quarter of 2016, from CHF43.8 million one year earlier. In the first quarter of 2016, CAPEX was CHF44.4 million compared to CHF26.8 million in 2015. Excluding cash outflows related to the World Duty Free transaction, free cash flow increased to CHF78.8 million, as compared to CHF19.0 million in 2015.
Net debt amounted to CHF3,871 million at the end of March 2016, CHF87 million lower than in Q4 2015 (CHF3,958 million). The main covenant, net debt/adjusted EBITDA, was 3.94x at 31 March 2016 against a maximum threshold of 4.5x.
