Milan, 07 March 2012 - Meeting today, the Board of Directors of Autogrill S.p.A. (Milan: AGL IM) examined and approved the consolidated financial statements and the Company’s draft financial statements for 2011 .
Autogrill posted good full-year income and financial results despite the negative economic situation, especially in Europe.
The Group’s geographical and business diversification enabled it to contain the effects of the crisis and increase its consolidated revenues by 4%. Growth was driven by performance achieved in airports (up 7.1% ), where its results outperformed traffic trends. Travel Retail saw a 10% increase in sales, with good results in all countries concerned, just as Food & Beverage posted positive results in North American airports. The contraction in motorway traffic, in part reflecting the sharp rise in petrol pump prices, which reached record highs in many European countries, held back growth in Food & Beverage revenues (up 1.5%), especially in Europe.
Consolidated Ebitda was up 3.8%. This result was made possible by good performance in Travel Retail, where growth in the margin was higher than in revenues, thus offsetting the reduction in the Food & Beverage business caused by rising food raw materials costs and to a lesser extent labour costs.
Net profits reached €126.3m, up by a significant 26.7% on 2010.
Over the year, a series of measures were initiated to improve operating efficiency and capacity to adapt to a rapidly changing economic scenario. Operations in Europe are being redefined to privilege profitability over dimensional growth.
The Group also embarked on a review of its organizational structure, mainly in Food & Beverage, and continued to invest in product and process innovation.
The renewal of the agreement with Starbucks in 2011 was a strategic move: Autogrill will maintain exclusive use of the brand in airports and on motorways in North America for a further 10 years. That agreement led at the beginning of 2012 to an extension of the partnership in Europe and the opening of new stores in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
In July, two new credit facilities worth a total €1.35 billion were executed in order to refinance a large part of its bank debt and to extend its average maturity to around four years.
“I’m satisfied with our results for 2011, achieved in a context of such great difficulty,” said Autogrill CEO Gianmario Tondato Da Ruos. “Travel Retail posted excellent performance, while Food & Beverage was penalized by rising raw materials and fuel costs and the resulting contraction in motorway traffic. 2012 is offering up an equally complex scenario, in which a fall in food raw material prices seems possible.”