Autogrill snaps up World Duty Free

World Duty Free, the highly-regarded retail arm of BAA, has been sold to Autogrill SPA for £547 million. The sale was anticipated as BAA owner Ferrovial sought to recoup some of the £10.3bn that it splashed out on BAA two years ago. Coming in the same week that it purchased the remaining 50% stake to gain full control of Aldeasa, it marks out Italian giant Autogrill as a top player in the global travel retail trade.

The news comes at a pretty delicate time for WDF: in just two weeks time the retailer will throw open its new doors at Heathrow Terminal 5, one of the most closely scrutinised travel retail openings to date. Commenting on this latest development, managing director Mark Riches said that he was “delighted” with the new ownership, but emphasised that it would not distract his team from getting the hotly-anticipated T5 stores ready for trading.
WDF operates 65 shops across seven UK airports, generating sales in excess of £300m per year. The sale has been on the cards since last July, when media reports suggested that Ferrovial – an infrastructure specialist – would seek to sell a number of assets in the face of increasing financing costs. Nicolas Villen has repeatedly asserted that WDF “is not a strategic asset”.

This week marks a major step in the progress of Autogrill as the group continues a steady march to market domination. As well as signing off the WDF deal, on Monday it shelled out $545m to gain 99.9% control of Aldeasa, the Spanish travel retailer that boasts significant presence in Mexico, Canada and Jordan as well as its home market. In 2006 the Italian operator also bought troubled UK travel retailer Alpha. The result is a true travel retail giant with annual sales of $2.4bn, which would suggest drinks sales well in excess of half a billion Dollars.

Ben Grant, 12/03/08