In 2021, amid the damaging impact of the pandemic on its concessions, Gebr. Heinemann outlined a series of ‘red lines’ that it said it would not cross when bidding in future. It highlighted the importance of flexibility, long-term thinking and avoiding fixed-term guarantees in contracts that did not respond to crisis situations.

This year, the retailer withdrew from the duty free tender process at Spain’s airports, saying it did not correspond with the contractual ‘red lines’ it defined during the pandemic. Co-CEO Raoul Spanger did not elaborate on the specifics of the AENA tender as that process continues, but spoke about the importance of defining internally what matters to the company when new bids arise.

Spanger said: “We intend to manage our risk as we never know when the next pandemic or similar event will come along. We don’t accept certain elements of risk – our ‘red lines’ – and will be selective. We have to keep risk at a level where, if issues arise, the future of our company is not at risk. But beyond that we are open to many formulas with our partners, from concession to JV, as we have been through our history.