Madeleine Albright Fund Invests US$30 Million In Flemingo International

Online, February 18, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Flemingo International BVI Limited today announced a US$30 million investment in the company by a fund managed by Albright Capital Management (ACM).
ACM is a dedicated emerging-markets investment firm based in Washington, DC chaired by former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Flemingo, one of travel retail's fastest-growing players, said it has achieved an over +50% per annum revenue growth rate over the past five years by focusing on markets such as Africa, Eastern Europe, Turkey and the Indian subcontinent.

Flemingo said it will use the proceeds of the investment to further expand its reach in high-growth duty free and travel retail markets across the globe.

With over 120 shops internationally, Flemingo has developed over ten different retail formats, including airport, seaport and border stores; inflight duty free retail; coffee shops; dedicated outlets serving the UN and diplomatic missions; online retail; and duty paid convenience shops and fashion accessory boutiques.

Flemingo CEO Atul Ahuja commented: "We are delighted to have ACM as an investor as we continue to build Flemingo into one of the pre-eminent emerging markets duty free companies."

FLEMINGO'S AMBITIOUS GLOBAL ASPIRATIONS

At the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes, last October, Flemingo Duty Free revealed its ambition to target US$2 billion in annual turnover by 2020, and unveiled new branding and a new logo.
At a press conference attended by Madeleine Albright, who had been a keynote speaker at that day's TFWA World Exhibition conference, Atul Ahuja said: "Even with modulated growth of +30% a year, we can hit the US$2 billion figure through new business, growing organically and possibly some strategic, opportunistic acquisitions. We are the only major travel retailer focused entirely on emerging markets, we are nimble and we think locally, though we are international."

As revealed by The Moodie Report, the company is looking ahead to a public flotation to help fund its growth. Ahuja said it would finance the next stage of expansion through "a mixture of internal accruals, debt and equity".

Speaking in Cannes about the group's growth plans, independent Board Director Paul Topping underlined the four pillars on which Flemingo plans to grow. These are people (the company is recruiting what it calls its management 'dream team'); partnerships; its focus on emerging markets and its 'de-risking strategy' whereby it operates across many different territories on three continents.

Flemingo has also been diversifying, with many new formats such as food & beverage and coffee shops at airports, as well as its existing airport, seaport, border store, diplomatic and airline operations.

Topping said: "We are talking to airports about full master commercial concessionaire contracts, covering everything from F&B to retail. It's a good solution for smaller regional airports with one company managing the commercial business for them.

Flemingo operates 118 outlets in 26 countries, with 1,500 staff worldwide.