Macquarie Airports, the new majority owners of Copenhagen Airports A/S (CPH) have indicated that they intend to take up their option to tender the main duty and tax free contract presently held by the Nuance

Group.
This contract expires on February 28, 2007 and Copenhagen Airports A/S (CPH) has announced that an international tender will be issued in the run up to the new contract period, most probably within the next few months.
Commenting on the development, Nuance Group President and Ceo Roberto Graziani said today: ‘The expiry date of the concession at Copenhagen has been known for a long time and it does not come as a surprise. Having held the concession since 1995, it is entirely reasonable to expect that a new airport owner would want to establish a valuation of the concession on the open market.
‘We continue to work closely with CPH and value the tender process as an opportunity for a retailer to offer new approaches to structuring what is a significant contract. We will be one of many interested parties and we look forward to taking advantage of our intimate knowledge of this particular market place, as well as of our specific retail expertise to deliver an innovative and interesting proposal for the airport and its shareholders.’
Jean-Paul Bonnel, Ceo of Nuance?s European division added: ‘Despite our past difficulties, Nuance has always been committed to delivering first-class retail in Copenhagen and we have made significant investments in our operation which were carried out in tight collaboration with the airport. The award-winning new shop concepts are performing to our satisfaction and have been well received by our customers.’
COMMENT: Nuance has had a difficult time operating this concession and making money. It is now well documented that it did enter a disputes procedure with Copenhagen Airports A/S where it sought financial relief, but was unsuccessful. Certainly the shops have been improved quite recently, but it is arguable whether the original design of the store that Nuance had to work with was ideal.One of the key problems for passengers with that store was simply that many did not know it existed, since it was linked to the airport?s old terminal area by a small passageway. It also originally had only one entrance and if this was missed then passengers could not enter the store by side entrances because there were none.Thankfully this problem has now been corrected, but only in the final stages of Nuance?s existing contract.