(Alliance News) - John Menzies PLC on Thursday said its footprint is set to expand following an acquisition in Central America and new contract wins in Australia.
Edinburgh, Scotland-based John Menzies is an aviation services company that provides ground handling, cargo handling, cargo forwarding and into-plane fuelling services.
The company said it has agreed to acquire a 51% stake in aviation service provider Interexpresso Costa Rica Corporacion ILC SA.
Interexpresso provides cargo handling and aviation security services, the company noted. Its operations are based in Costa Rica's capital San Jose, with additional operations in Guatemala and El Salvador, thus adding three new countries to John Menzies' footprint in the region.
Chair and Chief Executive Philipp Joeinig said: "We have found a knowledgeable partner in Interexpresso and, working together, we will be able to open doors in new, attractive, higher margin and emerging markets in the region."
Initially, the company plans to focus on expanding Interexpresso's pre-existing services, with the possibility of expanding into further air cargo handling and ground handling services in future.
Meanwhile, the company said it has secured new contracts with Virgin Australia after a competitive tender process.
From mid-October, John Menzies will provide ground services at Darwin, Cairns and Queenstown airports, plus air cargo services at Darwin.
The new contracts are in addition to existing business retained at Sydney, Melbourne, Kargoorlie, Perth, Brisbane, Cairns and Gold Coast airports.
Altogether, the Virgin Australia contracts will see Menzies handle around 8,000 flights and 6,500 tonnes of cargo each year at 10 locations.
"These new contracts represent a significant expansion of Menzies' operations in the Australian market and build on the recent wins with Qantas and Jetstar," the company added.
In mid-June, the aviation services provider expanded its presence in East Asia after agreeing to acquire a majority stake in Chinese freight firm, Guangzhou JFreight Aviation Logistics Supply Chain Co.
The company's geographical expansion follows a loss-making year in 2020. John Menzies said pandemic-related travel restrictions caused it to sink to a pretax loss of GBP120.5 million in 2020 from GBP17.3 million profit in 2019, whilst revenue fell 37% year-on-year to GBP824.2 million from GBP1.33 billion.
In March, the company said it does not anticipate the return of 2019 travel volumes until at least 2023
Shares in John Menzies were trading down 0.6% at 315.14 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.
By Scarlett Butler; scarlettbutler@alliancenews.com
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