Óscar Vela (Badalona, 1967) spends half his life on a plane. The CEO of Areas, the Catalan multinational dedicated to en route catering, takes some 200 flights a year to supervise the establishments that the company manages at airports such as Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Los Cabos (Mexico) or Bergamo. Also to explore new markets. And he assures that the air connections from Barcelona, where they are based, are good and allow him to travel to any of the ten countries in which Areas is present.
The group has just won again the macro competition for the restoration of the Barajas airport, winning 70% of the sales estimated in the specifications and the management of 35 of the 55 premises that Aena has put out to competition. 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. Vela highlights this latest operation as an essential part of the consolidation and growth plan that the company has promoted after the pandemic.
After reaching global sales of 1,900 million euros in 2019 (its fiscal year runs from October to September), the covid crisis and the consequent mobility restrictions 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.
Do they consider the pandemic crisis over, has the business recovered?
We are dedicated to mobility, restaurants and tourism, so we were at the epicenter of the pandemic restrictions and the situation in the entire sector was very complicated. Even so, we have taken advantage of the time and we have not stayed still. We are diversified and have continued to opt for contests. We are dedicated to airports, we want to be in iconic airports, but we are also in train stations and highways. Road and rail traffic recovered before plane traffic and this has helped us to overcome the situation, to be more resilient. In fact, we have practically recovered the employment we had three years ago, with 20,000 employees globally. Air traffic is also growing, faster at tourist airports, but the trend is one of clear improvement.
Has the liberalization of high-speed service and free highways benefited you?
The business in train and road has improved and the increase in passengers is noticeable [in Spain they are in Atocha or Sants, among others]. Today 25% of our business comes from the railway, another 25% from roadside establishments and 50% from airports. In Atocha, for example, we have carried out a great reform. Autogrill decided to get out of there and we took advantage of the pandemic to stay at that station. Also from Autogrill we kept the connection of the AP-7 south, that is, from Tarragona to Alicante. And during the pandemic we have reformed the service stations. In this period we also won the AP-7 north, or the C-32. We also won the concession for three service areas of the West Virginia highway, in the United States... In other words, this diversification and internationalization has been key to our recovery.
In which market do you want to grow now?
Mainly in the United States. We are committed to expanding there. In Europe we are in a consolidation process. Our main market is France, which contributes almost 700 million euros. The second is Spain, with between 550 and 600 million and the third is already the United States. With West Virginia we already have three of the four most important highways in the country and we work in ten airports, such as Miami, Orlando, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles... The United States is a country with a large number of airports, with consumption very high and we see a great opportunity for growth there. We have experience and we are comfortable, so we are going to accelerate there.
What contests are they going to opt for in the United States?
We will introduce ourselves to as many as we can. After the pandemic they are activating a large number of concession contests there. We would like to double size in the United States in two or three years. We also plan to grow in Latin America. In Mexico, where we are in the main airports, contests will also be activated. And of course we will continue to bid in Europe. The vocation is clearly international. This last year, for the first time, international business has exceeded 80% of the total.
This last year there has been a strong increase in food and raw materials. Have the prices of your products gone up?
We have worked with our suppliers and partners to weather this situation. We have made an effort and have even adapted the offer of some products with less influence of inflation. The rise in prices has been very moderate. In addition, we are subject to some rules, to comply with some specifications and conditions set in the contests. On the other hand, the rise in prices of supplies, of energy, has been more complex, very high and sudden. We have implemented an energy efficiency plan to try to compensate.
During the pandemic and the restrictions on air traffic, large companies entered into a conflict with Aena over the payment of guaranteed rents for airport premises in Spain. You also took the situation to court. How is this process?
That happened prior to the reform of the law in Congress [approved an amendment that obliges Aena to adjust the rents of the premises to the drop in passengers]. There are some judicial processes that have been closed and others are still in progress. But we limit ourselves to applying the law. The situation has changed with the modification of the law. That said, Aena is a very important client with whom we work normally. For example, this last contract that we have won in Barajas.
The world headquarters of Areas de Paris were recently returned to Barcelona. Why did you decide to return?
Areas was born here, we are a Barcelona company and we are convinced that it is a great city, that talent can be found and attracted here. On the other hand, the city has with us the third largest restaurant operator en route in the world, which is competing with large American and British groups, and we won many battles. Returning the headquarters to Barcelona was a very natural process, trustworthy with the management team. PAI [the fund bought the firm from the French group Elior in 2019 in an operation valued at 1,542 million euros] quickly said yes, which is yet another sign of the solidity of this partner and how well it works.
