INTERNATIONAL. In an upbeat post-2021 results call and presentation by Lagardère Group this morning in Paris, Lagardère Travel Retail Chairman & CEO Dag Rasmussen predicted a return to pre-pandemic 2019 revenues in 2023.
As reported earlier, Lagardère Travel Retail improved its recurring EBIT to a negative €81 million (up sharply from a thumping €353 million loss in 2020) in 2021. Sales rose +34.3% on a like-for-like basis and +33.1% reported to €2,290 million – still down -46.1% on pre-pandemic (and record) 2019.
Lagardère Travel Retail (which encompasses Travel Essentials, Duty Free & Fashion and Foodservice) reached an encouragingly low flow-through ratio of 11.8%, “reflecting operational excellence in a volatile environment”, the group said.
In today’s call, Lagardère SCA Managing Partner Arnaud Lagardère said: “Travel retail, despite the numbers is in a very good shape. Actually, if travel rebounds, we will be ready to rebound. If it takes more time, we’ll stick to our low flow-through level. I don’t know any other company that has such a low level as we have.
“It has been really a great job by Dag and all this team. I don’t think people can imagine the level of stress and difficulty that that our team has been through – it has been unbelievable. Meeting with Dag and his team many times, I’ve been able to see how stressful this period was and still is.”
Arnaud Lagardère emphasised the group’s “huge ambitions” for its travel retail arm, adding, “We’d like to be closer to the number one and maybe – you never know – number one, one day.”
While highlighting an Omicron-driven slowdown in December and January from the “good trends” in October and November 2021, Rasmussen noted subsequent trading improvements, notably during the past week.
“We see the pressure linked with Omicron easing,” he said, a dynamic which is generating optimism. Rising sentiment suggesting a growing return to normality is already being felt in the figures, Rasmussen added.
Asked directly when he expected Lagardère Travel Retail to return to 2019 levels – in 2023 or 2024 – Rasmussen replied without hesitation: “Total figures, 23 – that would be total figures with ups and downs depending on the countries and business lines.”
Concluding the call, Arnaud Lagardère said: “We just can’t wait to have this COVID over because I think we’ll reach levels of EBIT as a group that we haven’t reached for a long time, if not ever.”
