Milan, 27 August 2008 - The Board of Directors of Autogrill S.p.A. (Milan: AGL IM), at its meeting today, examined and approved the half-yearly report as at June 30, 2008.
The first half of 2008 was marked by important strategic results, though the macroeconomic context was difficult. With the acquisitions of World Duty Free Europe and the remaining 49.95% of Aldeasa, carried out in the first half of 2008, and with that of Alpha Group in 2007, the Group has strengthened its hand in the airport retail & duty free sector, becoming number one operator in the sector in the world. At the same time, organic growth was pursued in geographical areas with high levels of potential, and was achieved through the awarding of new contracts that intensified Autogrill’s presence particularly in Asia and the Middle East, with the new concessions in Singapore and Cairo.
In this extremely difficult context, where important slowdowns were observed in all the economies of the main geographical areas in which it operates, the Group concentrated its efforts on the search for operating efficiencies. Thus the occasion was taken to integrate the recent acquisitions in the retail & duty free sector to extend the reorganization program to the central and local corporate structures as well, with a view to generating synergies of € 45m per year from 2010, ahead of our initial projections. In 2008 restructuring actions are expected to produce one-off costs of approx. € 17m, net of the benefits in the year.