The Areas group has acquired the catering activity on the French motorways of Sighor, which will add 23 new service areas in the country with an annual turnover estimated at 65 million euros. The amount of the operation, pending final approval from the French Competition Authority, has not been disclosed.
The Barcelona-based multinational already manages 92 service areas in France, its main market, to which it will now add the 23 of Sighor, a company founded in 1989 and one of the main players in highway restoration in France. In total, Areas manages 602 establishments in 173 spaces under a concession regime located in airports –such as Charles de Gaulle, Orly, Toulouse or Lyon–, highways, train stations –Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon, Gare Montparnasse or Gare de l 'Est– and French leisure centres, with an annual turnover of close to 700 million euros.
"We already invoice more than 80% of our activity outside of Spain and we want to grow both in Europe and in North America", commented Óscar Vela, CEO of Areas. The company has just won an important part of the Barajas airport restoration macro tender, winning 70% of the sales estimated in the specifications and the management of 35 of the 55 premises that Aena has put out to tender. The estimated turnover for the eight years of the concession amounts to 1,000 million euros, thus becoming the largest restoration contract in the history of Spanish airports.
At the same time, it is promoting an ambitious growth plan in the United States, where it already manages spaces in one of the three service areas of the West Virginia Highway and is preparing to battle for concessions in the country's main airports –it already operates in nine airports– .
After reaching global sales of 1.9 billion euros in 2019 (its fiscal year runs from October to September), the covid crisis and the consequent restrictions on mobility caused its revenue to fall by 46% in the year that ended in in 2020 and 56% in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic billing.
By 2022, and in the absence of auditing the accounts, Areas expects to reach around 90% of sales in 2019. The company is present in ten countries and employs 20,000 people.
