Nuance to exit duty-free shop JV at Hyderabad airport

Mumbai/New Delhi: The world’s leading airport retail firm,Nuance Group AG, is exiting its duty-free shop at the Hyderabad international airport due to sluggish sales, said a senior executive of the group’s local arm and a top airport official.
The group is considering exiting its duty-free store at the Bangalore international airport as well, the senior executive said on condition of anonymity.
This will effectively put an end to Nuance Group (India) Pvt. Ltd, a joint venture (JV) it formed in 2007 with India’s second largest listed retailer Shopper’s Stop Ltd, which runs both the duty-free outlets.
The current operators of the duty-free shop will exit from the Hyderabad facility,” said P. Sripathy, chief executive of GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), which operates the Hyderabad airport.
The move was confirmed by two other executives who work for the JV partners, who did not want to be identified.
Faced with Switzerland-based Nuance’s impending exit, the GMR Group, which also operates the New Delhi international airport, is planning to float fresh tenders for a duty-free shop at the Hyderabad airport.
“We are going to issue by this week an expression of interest and request for proposals for this duty-free shop,” Sripathy said.
Nuance Group (India) does not reveal sales figures, but it had been expecting revenue of up to $240 million (around Rs1,070 crore) over seven years.
21/04/10 P.R.Sanjai and Rasul Bailay/Live Mint

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Categories: Airports Apr 2010