Milan , 11 May 2010 - Meeting today, the board of directors of Autogrill S.p.A. (Milan: AGL IM) examined and approved the consolidated results for 1st quarter of 2010.
In the 1st quarter of the year, the low season for the Group’s business, Autogrill pressed on with commercial initiatives to improve the appeal of the offering and boost sales, enabling it to increase revenues by 3.1% (4.3% at comparable exchange rates).
Overall, the scenario was better in 1st quarter 2010 than in the same period in 2009, despite traffic still being below pre-crisis levels and even though the negative trend in some channels and geographical regions has not yet been reversed.The trend in airport sales was favoured by a recovery in business class and a higher propensity to buy. Motorway traffic was penalized in Europe and the United States by bad weather, especially in February.
“We made good progress in sales in the 1st quarter,” said the CEO Gianmario Tondato Da Ruos, "The persistence of high volatility on the markets indicated that we should continue with the approach adopted in 2009. The Group’s priorities remain those of efficient management of resources and cash flow generation”.
This focus made it possible to achieve a 5.7% increase in Ebitda and improve cash flow generation for the period, which was a positive €11.1m against a negative €91.5m in 1st quarter 2009.
(1) The expression “at comparable rates” indicates the change that would have been posted if the comparative data of the consolidated companies using currencies other than the euro had been stated at the same exchange rates as those used to convert data for 1Q 2010.Movements in the average exchange rates of the main currencies involved in the conversion of consolidated figures were as follows:- €/$US exchange rate: 1.3829 in 1Q 2010 against 1.3029 in 1Q 2009, the US dollar losing around 5.8% to the euro.- €/£ exchange rate: 0.8876 in 1Q 2010 against 0.9088 in 1Q 2009, UK sterling gaining around 2.4% on the euro.
(2) With respect to the originally published figures, the data for 1Q 2009 reflect application of IFRS3 (revised in 2008) in drawing up the 2009 financial statements.
(3) Net cash flows from business operations minus net operating investments.