Alpha Airports says will meet FY hopes H1 sales up 4 pct UPDATE

Alpha Airports says will meet FY hopes H1 sales up 4 pct UPDATE: "Alpha Airports Group PLC, the in-flight caterer and airport retailer, said today it expects to meet market expectations for its year to end-January 2007 as it reported a 4 pct increase in first half to end-July sales, sending its shares nearly 6 pct higher.

The group, which services more than 100 airlines and runs more than 200 retail outlets at 77 airports in 15 countries, also revealed a detailed review is being conducted into its business strategy and the financial performance of the operating units.

'At this stage, we expect the full-year performance of the group to remain in line with current market forecasts, although it is still too early to determine the future impact of the security issues which affected UK airports in August,' said chairman and chief executive Peter Williams.

'We do anticipate some weakness in our Sri Lanka retail business due to local security concerns.'

Prior to today's statement analysts were forecasting year to Jan 31 2007 sales of about 562 mln stg, underlying profit before tax of about 16.8 mln stg, and earnings per share of 5.2 pence. This compares to figures for the previous year of 551 mln stg, 18.5 mln stg and 5.74 pence respectively.

In a trading update published ahead of its annual shareholders' meeting, the group said its Alpha Airline Services division, which provides catering logistics, in-flight catering, bonded stores and management services to airlines, increased sales by 3 pct.

It highlighted improvements in Jordan and Australia and the full period impact acquisitions in Romania and Bulgaria, offset by lower sales in the UK following the loss of the ThomsonFly contract in 2005.

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