Duty-free travel giant Dufry AG’s sales during the key summer season continued to lag behind pre-pandemic levels, even as countries eased coronavirus restrictions and travel rebounded, Chief Executive Officer Xavier Rossinyol said.
(Bloomberg) — Duty-free travel giant Dufry AG’s sales during the key summer season continued to lag behind pre-pandemic levels, even as countries eased coronavirus restrictions and travel rebounded, Chief Executive Officer Xavier Rossinyol said.
Speaking in an interview Tuesday, Rossinyol said travel patterns have shifted to more domestic and short-haul routes and fewer business trips. In July and August, sales reached about 90% of results in 2019, the year before the pandemic shut down travel.
“The world has changed,” Rossinyol said, adding that he doesn’t expect travel to return to 2019 levels until 2024 or 2025. “The type of traveler we have is different.”
Dufry, which held its capital markets day in London on Tuesday, told analysts and investors that revenue is expected to increase by 7% to 10% in 2023 and 2024, and pro forma core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization are expected to rise by 75 to 100 basis points annually over the same period.
The company also said its planned $6 billion merger with Italy’s Autogrill SpA is proceeding as expected and will likely be completed in the first quarter of 2023, subject to regulatory approvals.
Dufry shares fell as much as 3.85% Tuesday in Zurich trading.
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