Dufry-owned subsidiary Hudson Group has posted turnover increased by 2.1% to $509.9m for the second quarter of 2019, despite weakened organic net sales growth.

Hudson Group operates more than 970 stores in 87 airports and transportation terminals in the United States and Canada, having been given responsibility for all of Dufry’s duty-free operations in North America in 2011.

Citing macroeconomic pressures around Chinese spending, which impacted its duty-free and luxury business, the retailer saw its second-quarter organic sales growth dive to 1.8%, compared to 8.2% in the same period the year before.

In addition, Hudson Group noted its duty-free sales were negatively impacted by 30 bps due to the renovation of a large duty-free store (undisclosed location).

Despite that, the retailer increased its gross profit by 2.6% to $327.5m in the second quarter compared to $319.3m in the same period the year before.

Hudson Group CEO Roger Fordyce said: “Our performance in the second quarter demonstrates our ability to enhance the profitability of our business, despite ongoing macroeconomic pressures to our duty-free operations.

“On the topline, we were pleased by the strength of our core duty-paid business, which was fueled by momentum in categories like food & beverage and electronics. We continue to drive gross margin expansion thanks to our increasing scale and purchasing power.

“And we are working on a number of exciting initiatives focused on merchandising and the use of digital technology in order to improve the customer experience and the overall efficiency of our organisation, to continue to drive long-term value.”

By Elena Dimama in Airports, Latest News, North America, Regions, Retail News July 30, 2019 0