The Nuance Group Secures a Seven Year Duty Free Concession at PulkovoAirport in St. Petersburg, Russ

The Nuance Group is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a new duty free concession at St. PetersburgPulkovoInternationalAirport. The concession will commence on early 2014, and will consist of all three lots including two core categories and one speciality licence to be located in a newly built passenger terminal. The Nuance stores will comprise a total of 3'183 square metres of retail space serving about four million departing international passengers, who will travel through the new terminal every year. With this concession, Nuance enters to the Russian travel retail market.

Yet another win for Nuance since the beginning of the year, after the announcement of new concessions in Bulgaria and Mumbai, Roberto Graziani, the President & CEO of The Nuance Group, is pleased with the signing of the St. Petersburg Pulkovo contract: "We are delighted with this new concession, which we were able to secure thanks to the excellent commercial proposal made up by our European team. This win is another recognition of our excellent strengths both in core and speciality categories".

The duty free concession will have a seven year term and its overall value is estimated to be over EUR 800 million in turnover. 1'910 square metres of retail space are allocated to walk-through duty free store including Perfume & Cosmetics, Liquor, Tobacco and Confectionery. The speciality licence covers 11 stores including Swarovski, Salvatore Ferragamo, Burberry, Bulgari, Sun Catcher, Temptation, Atelier, Master of Time and a dedicated store for Electronics, Travel accessories and Toys. Also, a destination store "Spirit of St. Petersburg", will be located in the new terminal building. In addition, an express duty free store proposing an assortment of top sellers across all categories will be located in the north pier.

Nuance's new retail concept is tailored to be unique to PulkovoAirport with a strong tie to cultural, historic and architectural heritage of St Petersburg, delivering an extraordinary sense of place. The concept represents innovative design solutions with a strong focus on category management. The exciting atmosphere is composed through the utilisation of different materials, colours, lighting, ceiling and flooring, creating a destination of its own. The new concept makes consumers feeling special through its many exceptional features, such as a dedicated lounge to liquor connoisseurs, Vodka boutique including a tasting bar, Luxury Fragrance Boutique, Walk-in humidor for cigars as well as dedicated space for male P&C. Furthermore, the store includes innovative interactive digital approach with augmented reality solutions, representing another first for PulkovoAirport.

Andrea Belardini, CEO The Nuance Group Europe explains: "This retail concept that we will deliver, will become a landmark in the Russian travel retail market. It builds from the strengths of our well-known and tested core categories concept, as well as our experience in managing a diversified portfolio of specialty solutions. Our Duty Free Store concept is tailored for St. PetersburgPulkovoAirport and will include a number of new design solutions that will create an unprecedented atmosphere for every category."

"At the forefront of our objectives was to ensure that the management of St. PetersburgPulkovoAirport could be proud of 'owning' a special and unique shopping experience. A strong sense of place is delivered through the concept of 'Venice of North', which is realised through the representation of canals becoming a red thread of the shop ceiling guiding passengers thorough the different and exciting departments of the walk-through store."

"I wish to thank the numerous teams who have worked in this exciting project, our design partner The Design Solution for their great support and the PulkovoAirport management for their confidence towards our company. I look forward to being able to offer a truly great duty free experience at PulkovoAirport." Belardini concludes.

Evgeniy Ilyin, Commercial Director, St. Petersburg Pulkovo International Airport: "The Nuance Group has created a unique 'sense of place' concept for the New Passenger Terminal which will ideally complement the interior design of the airport and we believe will provide a superior customer experience. PulkovoAirport congratulates Nuance on their outstanding proposal including commercial and operational strategies for maximizing duty free revenues at St. Petersburg airport. We are confident that cooperation of Nuance, one of the world's largest duty free operators, with strong local partner who has great experience in the Russian market will create benefit both for the airport and its passengers. This award is a key milestone for our commercial team and we look forward to opening these exceptional facilities in the New Centralized Passenger Terminal of Pulkovo Airport."

St. Petersburg PulkovoInternationalAirport is the third largest airport in the Russian Federation (after Moscow Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports). TodayPulkovoAirport is servicing more than 11 million passengers per year. 31 international, 21 Russian and 14 CIS airlines have regular flights to PulkovoAirport. The construction of the New Centralized Passenger Terminal is under development and is estimated to be completed by the end of 2013, the new building includes approximately 130'000 square metres and the adjacent north pier approximately 9'400 square metres. The airport's target is to achieve a passengers' capacity of 35 million by the year 2040.