Retail and F&B at Flughafen Wien Group, the operator of Vienna Airport (VIE), grew by +2% in the nine months to September but both were hit by a number of factors including reduced expenditure from high-spending nationalities.

 

While the +2% growth was better than the Retail & Properties segment as a whole, which grew by +1.8% to €93.3m ($117m), retail did not perform as well as parking (+4.8%) or rental of advertising space (+4.5%).

 

It also did not match the traffic rise in the nine-month period which reached 17.2m, up +2.9%.

 

“The massive devaluation of the Russian Rouble, Turkish Lira and Ukrainian Hryvnia in the wake of political crises continued to have a negative impact on spending by certain above-average, consumption-oriented passenger groups – and thus on the revenue in this segment,” says the airport.

 

VIE adds: “The partial closure and redesign of extensive older shopping and gastro areas also detracted from revenue in this segment.” Nevertheless, a slight reduction in expenses resulted in an increase in Ebitda and Ebit for the Retail & Properties Segment (see table below).

 

 

BREAKDOWN OF SEGMENT

Following a modest start, total external revenue in the Retail & Properties segment increased in the first three quarters of 2014 by € 1.7m to €93.3m.

 

Parking revenue rose by € 1.5m to € 32.4m based on higher utilisation. The rental of advertising space climbed by €0.3m to € 6.5m and revenue from shopping and gastronomy recorded a gain of €0.6m, resulting from the reopening of shopping areas. Income from real estate declined compared to the previous year “on account of a positive one-time effect realised in 2013” the airport says.

 

OUTLOOK

VIE hopes to see a pick-up now that its revitalisation of Pier West is finished and in operation since mid-November. Post 2013, new retail and F&B facilities include an enlarged duty free shop in the Plaza, the addition of new brands such as Senses of Austria, Billa, Versace, Zilli, Longchamp, Michael Kors, Christ, Desigual, Victoria‘s Secret and Philipp Plein, plus a series of restaurants.

 

VIE is forecasting full-year 2014 traffic growth of between +2% to +3%, up from last year’s 22m.