By Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Ana CanteroRos
(Reuters) -Swiss duty-free retailer Dufry is confident about 2022 results as pandemic travel restrictions are lifted, but sees uncertainty linked to Asian reopenings and the tension generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The group did not provide guidance for 2022 as it posted on Tuesday a 52.9% yearly turnover increase, but CFO Yves Gerster said during a conference call that they remain "confident for the year ahead".
The retailer, which operates more than 2,300 shops worldwide, said it saw business pick up in the second half of 2021, helped by a travel peak in its main markets - the Americas and Europe, Middle-East and Africa, with Asia lagging behind.
"During 2022, I think we should not really base the recovery in Asia, especially until the end of the year", the company's Chief Executive Julian Diaz said during the call, pointing particularly to the uncertainty of a possible reopening in China.
Addressing geopolitical tensions, the Basel-based company specified that their 2022 scenarios - estimating a monthly cash burn of around 10 million Swiss francs ($10.75 million) if turnover falls by 35% from 2019, and of about 20 million if turnover slides by 40% - have taken the Ukraine war into consideration.
"It's too early to assess the full impact of the current political turmoil in Ukraine, but the impact has been very limited so far", Diaz added.
The company has two shops in the Ukrainian region of Odessa, with 35 employees, and the CEO said the company had given them resources before the attack and will try to facilitate the exit from the country to those who want to do so.
($1 = 0.9304 Swiss francs)