Airport retailers 2015 results: looking forward to profiting from a growing middle class

Financial reports for 2015 are starting to be published for the many airport retailers. They are an often overlooked part of the airport operational mix and the revenues they create frequently influence the concession fees that they pay to airports, which are a critical part of their revenue mix.

CAPA keeps an extensive database of airport retailers, duty-free and catering operators in the 'suppliers' section of the Profiles database. A list of them can be found at the end of this report. More financial reports are expected shortly, for the financial years ending in Mar-2016.

While no absolute conclusions can be drawn from the financial reports that are available, it appears that this segment of the aviation business is profiting from the global increase in traffic. On the other hand, the results are not as conclusive as those of the primary airport operators themselves, at whose airports the firms listed here are mainly active. This can be observed in, for example, the comparable level of EBITDA margin earned. No self-respecting primary airport operator would expect to declare an EBITDA margin of less than 25% now that growth has returned to the industry.

Just as in the ground handling segment, there has been a high level of consolidation between retailers during the last few years and this is reflected in the results of some of the larger operators, who are still in the process of absorbing their acquisitions.