Lagardère’s Aelia store at Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome.

Revenue at Paris-headquartered global travel retailer Lagardère Travel Retail (LTR) hit €6.13bn/ $7.22bn* last year, up +5.5% on a reported basis, and +4.4% like-for-like. However, North Asia (essentially China), which is still undergoing a major restructuring, saw a large contraction of -39%.

LTR said the difference between reported and like-for-like revenue growth is attributable to the consolidation of the duty-free business at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The travel retailer began operating at the Dutch hub in a joint venture on 1 May 2025 and noted a “strong contribution from the airport to its reported top line”.

Excluding North Asia, LTR’s total revenue grew by +6.5%, but the China restructuring helped lift the retailer’s recurring EBIT by +9.5% to €335m/$395m. Also contributing to the rise were solid operational performances in the Americas and EMEA, as well as strict cost controls. LTR noted that the EBIT increase came despite receiving a residual Covid government grant in the US in 2024.

LTR’s CEO, Frédéric Chevalier, told analysts and investors on Thursday that “most of the China restructuring would be finished by the end of this year in the context of a very challenging macroeconomic environment”.

The poor performance in North Asia, where 90% of the business is fashion, led to the Asia-Pacific region posting a sharp decline of -13% as streamlining of the mainland China business continued alongside store closures. Asia-Pacific’s share of LTR’s revenue fell to just 4% from 6% in 2024. There were slight offsets in the region, for example, the start-up of duty-free activities at Auckland Airport in New Zealand on 1 July 2025.

Regional growth is led by EMEA

Lagardère Travel Retail’s most important region – EMEA excluding France – saw revenue rise by an unmatched +7%, led by solid growth in the UK, Spain, Poland, and Italy, helped by passenger traffic growth. This pushed up the region’s share of LTR’s total revenue to 54% in 2025 from 51% in 2024.

FY25 split by region and business.

The region also benefited from the restart of duty-free operations in Albania and its rapidly expanding tourism market. Meanwhile, surging African business led to +25% growth due to recent openings in Benin, Cameroon, and Rwanda. The duty-free operation at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol “has been accounted for within changes in scope of consolidation”, according to LTR.

In its home market of France, which accounted for 17% of total company revenue last year, +3% growth was buoyed by more air passenger traffic, concession wins, and sales drives in duty-free stores, as well as successful upgrades for LTR’s travel essentials and dining businesses.

The Americas also advanced by +3%, with North America – where the bulk of LTR’s retail operations are – up by +2%. The sales momentum was mainly driven by travel essentials and dining despite air passenger traffic remaining flat and what LTR described as “a tense economic environment”. South America posted high revenue growth of +28% driven by the recovery of tourist traffic and a key retail opening at Lima’s airport in Lima’s Jorge Chávez International Airport in Peru.

In Q4, Lagardère Travel Retail revenue reach €1.55bn, up +5.6% on a reported basis (+4.5% like-for-like), again hampered by North Asia. For the current year, Chevalier said that he hoped it would play out as in the fourth quarter. “What we see is a continuous slight increase on the traffic side, and we believe it will stay like that for the next 10 months,” he told financial analysts.

* FX conversions at today’s rate.

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