Lagardère Travel Retail reports another strong year of organic growth with +8.8% in 2018

Paris, February 7th, 2019 – Dag Rasmussen, Chairman & CEO of Lagardère Travel Retail commented “Our organic growth has been strong in 2018 at +8.8% vs. 2017, pushed by sustained traffic growth, the success of our new concepts, innovative & dynamic commercial initiatives, and the development of the network. We also had a very successful year in terms of acquisitions, in particular HBF in North America, that we were able to integrate in December.”
 

In Duty Free & Fashion, the group reached for the first time €2bn of managed sales, thanks to steady like-for-like growth and the integration of several major contracts won in 2017 – Geneva, Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong. The group also launched the Beauty New Age concept in Paris airports - the new approach to beauty in travel retail, which includes a new “phygital” experience for travelers.
New contracts were signed in Duty Free in Gabon (Libreville airport), and in Fashion in Vienna and Beijing Daxing (China).

In Foodservice, the activity developed strongly in 2018: in North America (with the acquisition of HBF and openings in Austin, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, …), in EMEA with numerous openings in Italy, France (Toulouse airport), Dubai airport (The Daily DXB, a new food hall format). A new contract was signed in the Netherlands with Smullers in the Dutch Railways network, and a global franchise agreement was signed with Dean & DeLuca and initiated with the opening of 2 restaurants in Hong Kong.

In Travel Essentials, the activity showed strong results thanks to the success and roll-out of the new Relay concept and the product offer adjustments performed throughout the network. The group continued to enrich its brand portfolio, with the opening of an Official All Blacks store in Auckland New Zealand and Trip Advisor stores in the US and in Hong Kong.

The Innovation pipeline was also very strong, in particular thanks to a fruitful partnership with Lafayette Plug & Play, that was rewarded by a Corporate Engagement Award.

Dag Rasmussen concluded “We are fortunate that the travel retail sector continues to benefit from strong fundamentals. Within this favorable environment, we have shown superior growth which proves not only that our three-business line^* strategy is paying off, but also that our investments on concepts, innovation, staff training & development, and customer services - are meeting passenger and landlord expectations”.

  ^* _{Travel Essentials, Duty Free & Fashion and Foodservice}