Dufry posts strong performance in 2012

Strong turnover growth and profitability improvement backed by expanding and strengthening the business

2012 was a year of important achievements and strong performance for Dufry as the Company continued to add new businesses to its portfolio. Turnover grew by 19.6% and reached CHF 3,153.6 million.

EBITDA margin increased by 0.9 percentage points, reaching a new record level of 15.0% at year end versus 14.1% one year earlier. In absolute terms, EBITDA for 2012 was CHF 474.0 million compared to CHF 370.9 million in 2011.

Dufry continued to play a major role in the consolidation of the travel retail industry. The acquisition of several travel retail operations in South America, as well as Martinique and Armenia in August 2011, were fully consolidated during 2012 and the integration was concluded in August 2012, well ahead of the initial timetable.

The Company acquired a 51% stake of a Russian travel retailer in January 2012, and in October 2012, Dufry signed an agreement to acquire 51% of the travel retail operations of Folli Follie Group, the leading travel retailer in Greece.

Last but not least, Dufry signed in November 2012 an agreement with Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo, Brazil, for the extension of our concession until 2016 and the expansion of retail space in the airport of almost 50%.

In the fourth quarter 2012, Dufry also further strengthened its debt profile. The debt maturing in 2013 was successfully refinanced through a renewal of a committed CHF 650 million bank facility until 2017 and the Company also debuted in the debt capital markets with a successful 8 year senior notes offering of USD 500 million maturing in 2020. Dufry also strengthened its equity base with a capital increase of CHF 286 million to finance the transaction in Greece.

Solid performance across the regions

In 2012, Dufry’s turnover grew by 19.6% to CHF 3,153.6 million from CHF 2,637.7 million in 2011. Organic growth contributed 3.7% and 4.6% when excluding extraordinary effects. Like-for-like growth was 1.5% and 2.4% respectively, and new concessions, net of closings, contributed 2.2%. Acquisitions added 11.2% to the turnover growth, and finally the translational currency effect was positive by 4.7%.

Turnover of Region EMEA & Asia grew by 20.2% in 2012 and reached CHF 790.4 million versus CHF 657.8 million in the previous year. Dufry had a very strong performance in Asia and Africa where most markets reached double-digit growth for the year. Europe also continued to grow, albeit at a lower pace.  France showed a good performance, also in Spain and Switzerland. Growth in the region was also supported by the consolidation of acquisitions in Armenia, Martinique and Russia. In China, the good performance was further enhanced by new concessions in Chengdu. During the year, Dufry also completed the last steps of the exit from Singapore.