NEWS ROUND-UP Dubai Duty Free reports strong first quarter sales
successful 2017.“ Perfumes and cosmetics (24% of total sales)
remains DDF’s biggest category. Liquor increased last year by around 14%
and tobacco reported growth between 9%- 10%, but one trend stood out, according to McLoughlin: “Last year, for example, we had sales of AED241m ($66m) on Apple Products. “Apple now accounts for 45% of total
electronic sales. At one point, it was telephones and cameras leading the way.” Pressed by TRBusiness on the company’s
Dubai Duty Free (DDF) has reported Q1 sales of $523.46m, an increase of 11% on the same period last year. Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Colm
McLoughlin told TRBusiness he is confident of cracking $2bn in annual sales by year-end if trends continue. As reported, DDF posted a +10.6%
sales increase of AED155m ($42m) up to 18 March 2018 versus the same period last year. Sales for March ultimately rose by 10%
over March 2017, setting a new record of $180.9m. The retailer registered record-breaking
annual duty free sales of $1.93bn in 2017. This exceeded 2016’s sales turnover of $1.85bn by 5.6%. McLoughlin said: “The start of this year
has been absolutely fantastic. We budgeted more than we did last year of course, but we did not budget this high. “DDF set a new monthly sales record of more than $219m for December in a
goal of reaching $3bn in sales by 2022, McLoughlin said: “The objective is still in our heart, but it is unlikely to be in 2022 and more like 2024.” According to McLoughlin, the prediction
is based on operations at the new Al Maktoum International Airport. He added: “At present, the capacity of
that airport is increasing from five million a year to 27m. “The next big jump for that airport will
be to 135m passengers, but that has now gone out a little from 2020 into about 2023 or 2024.”
Dufry revels in five-year MTR Corporation tender victory
Dufry Group has snapped up the conession to operate duty free stores at Hong Kong’s West Kowloon station. The contract for the state-of-the-art
railway station serving the Hong Kong mainland runs for five years, according to operator MTR Corporation. Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation issued an
invitation to tender last August following major steps in the construction of the West Kowloon terminal. The Hong Kong section of the high-speed
Express Rail Link (XRL) links West Kowloon to the Shenzhen/Hong Kong border where it joins the mainland connection covering over 25,000km. Under the contract, Dufry will run a departures (1,200sq m) and arrivals (300sq
m) shop selling core beauty, liquor and tobacco, confectionery, fashion and health and wellbeing products. Dufry says the ‘significant win’ forms part
of its vision to develop its Asian business, which grew by 5% to total CHF809.1m ($855m) last year. “The duty free experience that we are set
to deliver will represent another important milestone in our drive to expand in the region and a great opportunity to showcase Dufry’s capabilities in the highly competitive market of Hong Kong,” commented Andrea Belardini, Divisional CEO for Asia, Middle East, Australia and Eastern Europe, Dufry Group. MTR operates 10 railway lines serving Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New
Territories in addition to a light railway network and airport express. Frederick Ma, Chairman of the MTR Corporation, praised the project’s delivery.
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