Ready to Leverage Increasing Signs of Recovery

In the second half of May and particularly since the beginning of June, we have seen an increasing number of travel restrictions and quarantine regimes being lifted across many European countries and other geographies. This has immediately led to a growing number of flight bookings within Europe in general, to the typical summer holiday locations in the Mediterranean as well as to some trans-continental destinations.

This evolution is a positive step forward as compared to the first quarter 2021, in which we were still seeing a business environment characterized by only minor improvements and within which Dufry achieved a turnover of CHF 460.3 million, resulting in an organic growth of -73.9% compared to 2019.

Encouraging signs also come from our landlords and brand partners, with whom we can now see a more forward looking and proactive mindset. If you browse through the stories in this Dufry World magazine you will notice an increasing number of contract wins and extensions such as the Cayenne Airport in French Guiana, Teesside Airport in the UK, and in Martinique in the Caribbean. In April and May, we completed important refurbishments in several regional airports in Greece, perfectly timed for the summer season and serving the many tourists. Refurbishments have, among others, also been completed as planned in Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburgh and in Las Vegas.

In line with our digitalization strategy, we have also launched new shop technologies such as the Hudson Nonstop concept, which is powered by Amazon’s Just-Walk-Out technology and is in our stores at the Dallas Love Field and the Chicago Midway International airports (MDW). We have also introduced an automated retail concept, which was first presented at Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) and has now also been rolled-out at Chicago Midway. All these developments show that Dufry, together with our partners, is ready to deliver the latest retail technologies to positively surprise our customers and to welcome them into attractive shopping environments.

Changes in the Global Executive Committee

In May, we announced several changes in the Global Executive Committee, as well as within the leadership team of our North America cluster effective July 1, 2021. Roger Fordyce decided to step down as Chief Executive Officer North America and member of the Global Executive Committee on June 30, 2021, and to continue supporting Hudson in an advisory capacity. I thank Roger on behalf of our Board of Directors and the management team for his long-lasting career and dedication to our Group, which he has served for over thirty years. We look forward to continuing to benefit from Roger’s valuable support in his advisory role.

Jordi Martín-Consuegra has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the North American cluster as of July 1, 2021 reporting to Eugenio Andrades, Chief Executive Officer Operations of the Group. I am pleased that Jordi will be leading our North American business, as he has both an in-depth understanding of our company strategy, organization and business model at a global level, as well as valuable experience of the specificities of the local market and our organization in North America – skills which will support him in his new role.

Brian Quinn, currently acting as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer has been appointed Deputy CEO of Hudson effective July 1, 2021. He will support Jordi through the day-to-day general management of our North America cluster as he has successfully done so far, with his in-depth experience of the complete operational value chain.

Sarah Branquinho has been appointed Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer and member of the Global Executive Committee, effective July 1, 2021 and will be reporting to myself. In her role, Sarah will foster and further develop the group-wide implementation of the Dufry Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, with her wealth of experience and building on the best diversity & inclusion practices from our industry. Sarah has over 30 years of experience in travel retail and joined Dufry Group in 2015 through the acquisition of World Dufry Free Group.

Please join me in wishing Sarah, Jordi and Brian all the best for their new roles and responsibilities. I am pleased that we can fill these important positions with highly skilled colleagues, who have a deep understanding of our industry and the company strategy.

Continuing to evolve our company

In May we have continued with our strategy of simplifying our organization and decision making processes by combining our Southern, Central and Northern American operations into the new financial reporting segment The Americas. Going forward we will thus have the three geographies consisting of Europe, Middle East and Africa; plus Asia Pacific and The Americas.

Throughout the first six months of 2021, we have fostered our commitment to sustainability in all its aspects. While I have just mentioned our goal to evolve our diversity and inclusion strategy, offering equal opportunities to all our employees, we have also developed other specific concepts such as substituting plastics bags as much as possible and we are ready to pilot a labelling system allowing customers to identify our newly defined sustainable product selection in the shops. We will share further details on these interesting initiatives with you in the next issue of Dufry World, as well as through our new internal communication channel Beekeeper, which we continue to expand throughout the company, to keep you all informed and updated on Dufry’s evolution.

Thank you for your support

I hope that all of you are and continue to stay in good health. Let’s keep our focus and dedication at high levels as we are already doing, so that we can benefit as much as possible from the encouraging signs of recovery. I want to thank you all for your ongoing extraordinary efforts and motivation and for maintaining the cost consciousness, which remains a key concern to take us through the recovery. Let’s tackle the important summer season as a strong team and with a positive attitude.

Sincerely yours,

Julián Díaz
Chief Executive Officer