Aéroports de Paris and Groupe ADP has reported that its retail and services business increased by a nominal 1.6% to €706m ($821m) in the first nine months of 2017 with retail +4.2% to €342m ($398m).

Revenue from retail activities is categorised as rents from shops, bars and restaurants, advertising, banking, foreign exchange and car rentals rose 4.2%, to €342m ($398m).

AIRSIDE SHOP REVENUE +5%

ADP says revenue from airside shops rose by 5% to €227m ($264m) ‘thanks to slight growth in sales per passenger over the period and this was deemed to be a good result considering the negative impact of the fall in tobacco sales linked to the implementation of plain packaging – plus the strong euro against other currencies.

Source: Aéroports de Paris.

Overall, sales per passenger for the first nine months rise marginally by +0.3% to €17.80 ($20.71), driven by a favourable traffic mix and the duty free performance.

Meanwhile, rents from landside shops increased by 6.3%, to €12m ($13.96m). ADP added that bars and restaurants posted ‘strong growth’ of 5.9% over the period, translating into €31m ($36m).

PARIS PAX TRAFFIC HIT 77.3M

Commenting on the traffic and financial performance over the period, Augustin de Romanet, Chairman and CEO of Aéroports de Paris SA – Groupe ADP, stated: “Paris Aéroport traffic reached 77.3m passengers over the first nine months of 2017, with international traffic more dynamic than total traffic. Revenue was driven by the good performance of aviation activities.

Source: Aéroports de Paris.

[Paris airports’ traffic – including Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly – benefited strongly from ‘the dynamism of low-cost companies and international traffic (+6.4%) said de Romanet-Ed].

In terms of the traffic breakdown, the international share grew by +6.4%), due to a growth in all destinations including the Middle East (+8.7%), Africa (+7.7%), North America (+6.9%), the French Overseas Territories (+5.0%), Asia-Pacific (+4.5%) and Latin America (+1.8%). At the same time, European traffic (excluding France) was up by 4.4%, while passenger traffic within France was up by 1.7%.

RETURN OF THE GOOD SPENDERS..

He continued: “Retail results, notably revenue from airside shops, benefited from the return of highly-contributive passengers.

“Although sales per passenger were carried by the dynamism of luxury goods, they remained penalised by the decrease in sales of tobacco linked to the implementation of plain packaging on 1 January 2017, as well as the strong Euro, which reduced the purchasing power of international passengers.”

ADP’s third quarter trading period was also notable in the international arena where it acquired an additional 8.12% in the share capital of TAV Airports, raising its ownership level to 46.12%.