“We are a Swiss company based in Basel and are proud to be Swiss,” states Julian Diaz, Chief Executive Officer of Dufry AG. “We are listed in both the Swiss and Brazil stock exchanges and have a market share of over twenty percent in airport travel retail. As a consequence, we are the global leader in the sector.”
While the company can proudly trace its roots back to 1895, the transformation of the company into an USD 8.7 billion industry giant fittingly culminated in 2015 – the year the company celebrated its 150th Anniversary.
“In addition to this historical milestone, the transformational acquisitions of two of our most important competitors – Nuance in 2014 and World Duty Free in 2015 marked the start of a new era for Dufry,” recalls Diaz.
Dufry’s acquisition of World Duty Free was the largest acquisition in travel retail history and transformed the company into the biggest traveler retailer in Europe. Moreover, Dufry’s acquisition of Nuance increased the company’s footprint in the Mediterranean, North America, Central and Northern Europe and gave access to additional concessions in key Asian markets.
“While Asia currently represents ten per cent of our business, we are aiming to double this in the next five years through acquisitions and organic growth while benefitting from passenger growth numbers in Asia”, says Diaz. “We are currently present in seventeen locations across the Middle East and Asia already making us the most international player in the region.”
“And also in Singapore, our company has been active for almost two decades. Singapore is key to our growth strategy for the region,” says Diaz. “The country is an important base as we expand across the region due to its strong commercial trends and solid financial systems. We are firmly committed to growing our business in Singapore and look forward to strengthening our positions in Bali, Hong Kong, Macao, China, Indonesia and Cambodia.”
