Good performance by American operations and Travel Retail limits the effects of the situation in Italy

Consolidated revenues: €1,239.6m vs €1,241.5m in 1st quarter 2012 (down 0.2% at current exchange rates; up 0.5% at constant exchange rates)
Consolidated Ebitda: €61.6m vs €67.9m in 1st quarter 2012 (down 9.3% at current exchange rates; down 8.4% at constant exchange rates)
Net result for the Group: €-31.2m vs €-18.4m in 1st quarter 2012
Cash flows: €-7,4m excluding contractual advances (€279m) paid to AENA, vs €1.9m in 1st quarter 2012
Net financial position: €1,864.8m at 31 March 2013 against €1,494.7m at 31 December 2012 due to rent advances and guarantee deposit to AENA.

Milan , 14 May 2013

Meeting today, the board of directors of Autogrill S.p.A. (Milan: AGL IM) examined and approved the consolidated results at 31 March 2013.
Revenues in the 1st quarter, traditionally a low season for Autogrill's businesses, were substantially stable. Good performance in the airport channel in both business sectors mitigated the effects of the persistently difficult economic situation. Europe, and Italy in particular, continues to suffer stagnant or shrinking GDP and significant contraction in motorway traffic.
Food & Beverage sales in the United States grew faster than traffic thanks to an increase in the average receipt value and the introduction of new concepts to capture new customers. The situation in Europe, on the other hand, was difficult, partly because the Group operates mostly in the motorway channel here.
Travel Retail continued to grow, with revenues outdoing traffic trends, especially in the UK and airports outside Europe, while business in Spain contracted.
Travel Retail margins continued to rise in the quarter, while Food & Beverage profitability was penalized by the heavy contraction in sales in Italy, where problems of oversupply in the motorway channel, together with the high impact of fixed operating costs (labour and rents), zeroed the positive effects of the successful recovery of margins in North American airports.
On the financial front, the quarter was characterized by a €306 million payment to AENA: €279m as an advance on future rents and €27m as a guarantee deposit, following the adjudication in December 2012 of the duty free and duty paid concessions in all Spanish airports.
"Growth in our business in North America and positive results from our Travel Retail activities contributed to a resilient overall performance during the first quarter of the year" commentedAutogrill CEO Gianmario Tondato Da Ruos. "We are proceeding with the separation of our two business areas - Food & Beverage and Travel Retail & Duty Free. I'm convinced that the creation of two distinct and independent groups will help release new energy in both businesses and provide greater room for each to express more effectively its strengths and better pursue its objectives. The move will also make it easier for financial markets to understand and assess the specific strategies of each business and will also facilitate the clearer evaluation of value-creating business combinations as and when these arise."


Events after 31 March 2013
In the first months of the year, the Group took a further step in its strategy to expand its airport business in emerging economies with the opening of 80 F&B points of sale in the major Vietnamese airports.
On May 3, the board of directors approved a project for a proportional partial demerger whereby Autogrill S.p.A. intends to transfer to its wholly owned subsidiary World Duty Free S.p.A., the beneficiary, the entire shareholding in World Duty Free Group SAU, the Spanish company leading the Group's Travel Retail & Duty Free business.

Outlook
In the first 18 weeks of the year, Group sales rose 0.5% (stable at current exchange rates) compared to the same period in 2012.
The trends that determine full-year results have not yet run their course. So it would be premature to give quantitative forecasts of the results for this year. However, the Group is confident it can make up for the weakness of results in Italy with good performance and prospects in North America and the resiliency of the Travel Retail business.
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