Gebr. Heinemann
‘Pressing the refresh button’ – Reflections on Gebr. Heinemann’s 2022 performance
We feature key talking points from Gebr. Heinemann’s annual press conference in Hamburg, attended by Dermot Davitt.
Leading travel retailer and distributor Gebr. Heinemann last week revealed a strong set of annual results for 2022, with turnover reaching €3.8 billion, up by +81% year-on-year. The figure, achieved despite the impact of war in Ukraine and continuing travel restrictions in some markets, represented 79% of 2019 turnover. Crucially, the group also returned to pre-pandemic levels of profitability last year after breaking even in 2021.
The results were announced at the annual Gebr. Heinemann press conference in Hamburg, led by Co-CEOs Max Heinemann, Chief Financial Officer Dr. Kai Deneke and Director Corporate Communications & External Affairs Nina Semprecht.
Retail (up+91% year-on-year) accounted for 80% of the business in 2022, with distribution (up by +59%) around 18% of the total.
By region, Europe took the largest share at 58%, followed by the Middle East & Africa at 36% percent, Asia Pacific at 4%, and the Americas at 2%.
Gebr. Heinemann senior management discussed a year of strong recovery and prospects for 2023 at the annual press conference. Pictured (from left) are Director Corporate Communications & External Affairs Nina Semprecht, Chief Financial Officer Dr. Kai Deneke, and Co-CEOs Raoul Spanger and Max Heinemann.
By category, liquor, tobacco and confectionery combined accounted for 52% of turnover, followed by perfumes & cosmetics at 34% and fashion, accessories & watches and jewellery at 9%.
Max Heinemann spoke about the remarkable resilience of the company and wider industry.
“We are very proud of how we and the industry have recovered. In 2022 we participated in better times and better moments for this industry. Our business model proved resilient. In fact now we are challenged in terms of the speed of recovery. We come from a very painful period to being able to speak about growing pains, which in itself is a luxury.
“The resilience of this industry is based on the traveller itself, which also makes it one of the most beautiful industries probably to be in, because that’s what safeguards us into the future – the willingness and freedom of people to travel and to exchange across different cultures, and from business to leisure.
Gebr. Heinemann key figures 2022
Source: Gebr. Heinemann
“We repeat our continuing commitment as a family company to travel retail, led by our people. We stick to our values, our purpose and our culture.”
In a key message in the company’s annual report, he added: “2022 showed us that no player in our industry vanished nor has the market lost its competitiveness. On the contrary: competition for the benefit of travellers is fierce. At the same time, 2022 also confirmed that we have taken the right steps within the last three years to go strong into the future. Our necessary cost-cutting measures during the crisis will lead us to a more efficient company. We executed an important strategic relaunch with our mission statement. Essentially, we pressed the refresh button.”
We feature key messages and takeaways from the press conference in a series of excerpts in the following pages.
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The Moodie Davitt eZine
Issue 323 | 5 May 2023
The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 14 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (Moodie International Ltd). © All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the Publisher. To find out more visit www.moodiedavittreport.com and to subscribe, please e-mail kristyn@moodiedavittreport.com