The shops at Chengdu airport will be operated by Hudson Bright Power (Beijing) Commercial Company, a joint-venture between Dufry and Bright Power Beijing, a company which operates bookstores throughout China. In 2016, Chengdu airport welcomed over 44 million passengers and ranked as the fourth most important Chinese airport behind Beijing, Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou.

The new Hudson Travel Essentials Convenience Bookstores, which opened right in time for Chinese New Year, offer travelers one-stop shopping with an international ambiance. The products range from international snacks and soft drinks to Chinese cultural and destination souvenir items, magazines, books and travel convenience products, as well as digital and electronics accessories.

The opening of the shops in Chengdu is part of Dufry’s initiative to introduce the Hudson brand in China and to further expand the successful retail concept globally. China is poised to experience significant growth in passenger numbers both at airports and railway stations. With respect to air travel, according to the National Civil Aviation Authority, the Chinese Civil Aviation is expected to transport more than 500 million passengers in 2016, resulting in a year-on-year growth of 13%. The high volume of domestic passengers to be served with travel convenience products is a perfect environment for Hudson. The same applies for other Asian markets with similar passenger profiles.

Andrea Belardini, Division CEO Asia Middle East and Australia at Dufry said, “I am very proud to introduce our successful international Hudson convenience store concept to China with the opening of our latest shops at Chengdu airport with our partners from Bright Power. With its remarkable number of passengers, Chengdu is the ideal starting point to further grow in China, which is a very attractive market for us and where we see a considerable growth potential with our convenience concept. Besides the Hudson convenience stores, we are also able to offer our landlords a complete range of retail formats and solutions, from typical core categories to multi-brand category formats such as sunglasses, fashion watches, electronic, leisure wear to name a few. In particular, I would like to thank our local partners of Bright Power (Beijing) Commercial Company and Chengdu Airport Authority for the trustful collaboration and support, which have enabled the opening of these shops.”

Ming Kang, Vice General Manager of Chengdu Airport, added, “Hudson, as a leading international brand at airports, has extensive experience and successfully operates in the global airport retail business. Here, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to Dufry for choosing Chengdu Airport as the first airport in China for Hudson global initiative. Thank you for the recognition and trust given to Chengdu Airport."

Dufry: the world's leading travel retailer

Dufry AG, a Swiss listed company, is the leading travel retailer in the world, with its duty-free and duty-paid retail stores distributed mainly in airports, luxury cruises lines, sea ports and other tourist destinations. Dufry, a company with 150 years of history, operates over 2,200 stores at 370 locations in 64 countries with a turnover of CHF 6.1 billion in full-year 2015.

Dufry’s Hudson brand and its successful travel essentials convenience concept has grown into an international and highly flexible travel retail format with shops across 14 countries including the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Russia and The United Arab Emirates.

The Transformation and Development of Bright Power

Bright Power was founded in 2005, initially as a book publishing company. The company has been seeking business transformation and development in past years, transforming from a books wholesaling model to retailing of books and magazines. The company has been restructured to become a "bookstore + culture creativity + travel souvenirs" travel retail operator at Chinese airports and high-speed railway stations. Bright Power operates bookstores in 4 out of the 10 major Chinese airports (Beijing T3, Shanghai Pudong Airport, Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, Chengdu Airport). Furthermore, Bright Power operates bookstores at 6 out of the top 10 high-speed railway stations (South Beijing Railway Station, South Guangzhou Railway Station, South Shanghai Railway Station, East Hangzhou Railway Station, North Xi'an Railway Station and Shenyang Railway Station).

Hudson Shops:

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For further information please contact:

Renzo Radice

Corporate Communications & Investor Relations

Phone: +41 61 266 44 19

renzo.radice@dufry.com