Imperial sees duty-free cigarette sales recovery as air travel returns
17/05/2022 13:31
By Richa Naidu
LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - Imperial Brands IMB.L said on
Tuesday it was starting to see some recovery of sales of
cigarettes in duty-free shops at airports and in popular
European holiday destinations as COVID-19 restrictions ease and
people begin to travel more.
Tobacco, alcohol and luxury goods makers were hit hard early
on in the pandemic when travel was limited, depriving them of a
key chunk of sales.
In its 2021 annual report, Imperial said travel recovery
remained "difficult to predict due to varying COVID-19
restrictions across Europe". Now, months later, the maker of
Winston cigarettes and Backwoods cigars said it was seeing a
recovery in the market.
"Our global duty-free business and our travel retail sales
in the holiday destinations in Southern Europe have begun to
recover as cross-border travel resumes," the company said,
adding that it had seen a similar recovery in the Middle East.
Globally, duty free sales accounted for roughly 2% of annual
revenue prior to the pandemic, it said. Earlier on Tuesday it
said it was on track to meet its 2022 goals helped by strong
sales of ecigarettes and heated tobacco in Europe, driving its
shares to a more than two-year high. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2X90DA
Major tobacco industry rival Philip Morris International
PMI.N also said in April that increased travel supported
volume growth in Spain and duty free stores around the world.
Other industries are also benefiting from a return to
airport shops.
Drinks group Campari CPRI.MI said this month that travel
retail had increased by 50.2% while beauty products makers
L'Oreal OREP.PA and Estee Lauder EL.N also saw a strong
recovery in some markets.
"At the beginning of the year, we are seeing a very strong
recovery, again, plus 18%, with air traffic resuming gradually,"
L'Oreal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said on an annual general meeting
call in April.
To be sure, with restrictions remaining in China, Estee
Lauder said "a precipitous decline in Chinese travel in March"
held back travel retail sales in Asia.
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(Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
((richa.naidu@tr.com; Follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/Richa_Writes;
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