Gebr. Heineman Outperforms Travel Retail Rivals With 81% Growth To $4.2 Billion In 2022

Gebr. Heineman Outperforms Travel Retail Rivals With 81% Growth To $4.2 Billion In 2022

Heinemann saw impressive growth in 2022, led by a traffic rebound. Hamburg-based global travel retailer Gebr. Heinemann outdid its key European competitors last year by delivering revenue growth of 81%, against 76% at Dufry, the world's biggest airport retailer; and 65. 4% at France's Lagardère Travel Retail. Heinemann achieved group turnover of €3. 8 billion in 2022 ($4. 2 billion) and said, at a press conference on Thursday, that it had returned to pre-crisis profitability even though 2022's turnover was only at 79% of 2019. The profit rebound is largely down to prudent cost savings but also inevitable job cuts at the height of Covid. However, last year, the employee count rose again to 7, 344, up from 2021's 6, 700, as more operations were ramped up. Co-CEO Max Heinemann commented: "Our business model proved resilient. Now we are challenged by the speed of the industry's recovery…. all of a sudden we are dealing with growing pains." This was a reference to the staffing, and materials and product supply, issues afflicting retail businesses everywhere. The 2022 profit hike came despite Heinemann extracting itself from its fairly extensive retail joint venture operations in Russia—which is still ongoing—and being forced to shut