Avolta delivers accelerating quarterly growth and margin progression in Q3 Donnerstag, 29. Oktober 2026 - 06:05

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BASEL,
October 29, 2026

Press Release (PDF)

NEWS RELEASE

AD HOC ANNOUNCEMENT PURSUANT TO ART. 53 LR

Avolta delivers accelerating quarterly growth and margin progression in Q3

Avolta AG (SIX: AVOL) reported an encouragingly resilient 9M 2026 with IFRS turnover of CHF 10,663m and operating profit of CHF 882m. Organic growth accelerated in Q3, while profitability continued to increase as major new operations ramped up and commercial initiatives gained traction. Avolta confirms its medium-term outlook.

HIGHLIGHTS: 

IFRS:

• Turnover CHF 10,663m
• Operating profit CHF 882m

CORE1

• 9M Turnover CHF 10,438m, with organic growth of +4.1% (+5.2% excl. Middle East)
  • Q3 organic growth accelerated to +4.6% from +2.9% in Q2
• 9M EBITDA CHF 1,044m, with a margin of 10.0%, -20bps YoY
  • Q3 margin of 11.6%, narrowing the YoY gap to approximately 40bps, from 60bps in Q2   
• Strong 9M EFCF of CHF 501m vs CHF 503m last year
  • Q3 EFCF of CHF 294m vs CHF 287m in Q3 2025

Shareholder value creation in line with Avolta’s capital allocation policy

• Leverage 2.0x
• Strategic investments in DFS Okinawa and Penha Duty Free completed during the quarter
• CHF 191m (vs. CHF 129m in 9M 2025) repurchased under the ongoing share buyback program2

Medium-term outlook confirmed

• Preliminary October organic growth around +4.0%, with strength across all regions
• Initiatives to support profitability and cash generation gained traction, reinforcing Avolta’s confidence in its medium-term outlook 

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Consolidated reported turnover totalled CHF 10,663m with IFRS operating profit of CHF 882m. On a CORE1 basis, turnover reached CHF 10,438m. 

Growth accelerated in Q3 with organic growth of +4.6% compared with +2.9% in Q2. M&A and Others turned positive as the aforementioned strategic investments began to contribute. 

For 9M, organic growth was +4.1% with growth at CER3 +3.7%. Excluding the impact of the Middle East, 9M organic growth would have been +5.2%.

9M 2026 CORE EBITDA1 totalled CHF 1,044m. The CORE EBITDA margin was 10.0%, -20bps YoY. Q3 CORE EBITDA margin reached 11.6%, with the year-on-year margin gap narrowed from 60bps in Q2 to approximately 40bps in Q3. 

Profitability remained affected by the Middle East disruption and the ramp-up of major new operations. These impacts moderated during Q3 as the new operations continued to ramp up and initiatives to support profitability and cash generation gained traction. Excluding these headwinds, the 9M EBITDA margin would have increased by +20bps YoY to 10.4%. 

EFCF amounted to CHF 501m, flat year-on-year, with Q3 at CHF 294m, +2.4% YoY, continuing the progressive recovery quarter on quarter.

The Group’s financial net debt totalled CHF 2,728m as at end-September 2026 and implies a leverage ratio (net debt/CORE EBITDA) of 2.0x. This reflects the acquisitions of both DFS Okinawa and Penha Duty Free as well as the purchase of shares totalling CHF 191m under Avolta’s 2026 share buyback program.

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS 

Over the quarter, Avolta continued to execute its proven growth strategy, completing its investments in DFS Okinawa and Penha Duty Free in early Q3 2026 and securing contract extensions and new market entries across key locations in Europe Middle East & Africa, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

Avolta also continued to advance its innovation and customer engagement during the quarter, including through its direct wallet-to-wallet stablecoin payments pilot at Zurich Airport, the first in the industry. 

Xavier Rossinyol, CEO of Avolta: “Our third-quarter performance was encouragingly resilient and demonstrated an improving momentum of the business. Organic growth accelerated in Q3 and remained strong into October. At the same time, the profitability gap versus last year narrowed as new operations ramped up and our initiatives to support profitability and cash generation gained traction, alongside our continued focus on technology, digital and data transformation to further improve the business.

On our resilient foundations, we remain focused on converting this progress into profitable growth and strong cash generation. We continue to invest selectively in attractive growth opportunities while returning capital to shareholders. This performance reinforces our confidence in Avolta’s medium-term targets."

OUTLOOK

Avolta confirms its medium-term targets of 5%-7% organic growth p.a., +20-40bps of annual CORE EBITDA margin improvement and +100-150bps of annual EFCF conversion improvement. Based on current exchange rates, currency translation is expected to have an approximately 2% negative impact on reported 2026 turnover versus 2025.

Q3 AND 9M 2026 KEY FINANCIAL TABLES

CORE GROWTH COMPONENTS

REGIONAL PERFORMANCE

IFRS/CORE TURNOVER RECONCILIATION

1Refer to APM section in H1 Financial Report 2026 (page 23-28) for the reconciliation of the IFRS and CORE profit and loss statement
2As of 30th of September 2026
3CER Constant Exchange Rate
4Includes selective restructuring and exits 
5CER Constant Exchange Rate

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Legal Disclaimer

This document contains certain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as ‘believes’, ‘expects’, ‘anticipates’, ‘projects’, “targets”, ‘intends’, ‘estimates’, ‘future’, “outlook”, or similar expressions or by discussion of, among other things, strategy, goals, plans, intentions or financial performance. All forward-looking statements included in this document are based on current expectations, estimates and projections of Avolta AG (the “Company”) about the factors that may affect its future performance. Factors that could cause the Company’s results to deviate from such forward-looking statements include, among others: global GDP trends, competition in the markets in which the Company operates, unfavorable changes in airline passenger traffic, unfavorable changes in taxation and restrictions on the duty-free sale in countries where the Company operates. Although the Company believes that its expectations reflected in any such forward-looking statement are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that those expectations will be achieved. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements included in this document.

The Company does not sponsor, participate in or assist any American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) program. ADR holders are not shareholders of the Company and are not entitled to the same rights as holders of bearer shares or registered shares of the Company. To the extent that any ADR depository or ADR holder obtains any information regarding the Company, whether from the Company directly (including but not limited to investor presentations, investor relations materials, or other presentations), or otherwise, the Company does not endorse or support using that information in connection with any such ADR program.

Alternative Performance Measures: This document contains information regarding alternative performance measures. Definitions of these measures and reconciliations between such measures and their IFRS counterparts if not defined in the document may be found on pages 23-28 of the Avolta H1 2026 Financial Report available on our website at https://www.avoltaworld.com/en/investors.

About Avolta

Avolta AG (SIX: AVOL) is a global leader delivering integrated travel retail shopping and food & beverage experiences across airports, motorways, cruise lines, ferries, rail and other high-traffic travel locations worldwide.

Avolta operates in more than 70 countries and across nearly 1,000 locations, managing around 5,100 points of sale. Its traveler-centric strategy is built on digital, data, and continuous innovation, while its scale and reach, across multiple travel environments, strengthens diversification and resilience.

To learn more about Avolta, please visit www.avoltaworld.com.