“A break-up doesn't seem like a hypothesis to me”. Thus Gianmario Tondato da Ruos, CEO of Autogrill, denied the rumors about the possible sale of individual assets by the group.
As for the M&A hypotheses, Tondato explained that Autogrill is currently aiming to "improve the European and Italian business", with great attention also to America, where there are "lights and darks: the business is going very well but we have a strong pressure on labor costs. This is our situation, after which we have to prepare for opportunities. We are not closed, we never have been”.
Meanwhile, the Autogrill Shareholders' Meeting approved the accounts for the first 4 months, closed with revenues down 2,7% on the year, to 1,329 billion euros, mainly due to the devaluation of the dollar against the euro. At constant exchange rates, revenues would have increased by 5,3%. On a like-for-like basis, on the other hand, revenues increased by 4,1% "due above all to a very positive performance in the airport channel", explains the company in a note.
Airports saw revenues fall by 4,8% to 779,9 million, but at constant exchange rates the result is up by 6,6%. The Autostrade channel, on the other hand, recorded a decrease of 2,9%, to 438,7 million (+0,4% at constant exchange rates).
"We have an excellent relationship with Eataly, I don't exclude that in the future we could do something in the airports - added Tondato da Ruos - But we haven't decided anything: at the moment we are only carrying out motorway projects". The collaboration between Autogrill and Eataly currently concerns only one point of sale, in the Secchia Ovest area on the A1 motorway near Modena. In recent months, Andrea Guerra, one of the managing directors of Eataly, had not ruled out the possibility of extending the partnership with Autogrill to the airport channel as well.
