Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the DO & CO investor call for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. I am Sergen, the Chorus Call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q & A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and the amount on your telephone for operator assistance. Please press star and zero. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast at this time. It's my pleasure to turn over to Attila Dogudan, CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen in Europe. Good morning to U.S. We appreciate very much that you all have joined us today for an update of the last business year as today is a good day for us and hopefully for you too. DO & CO has achieved the best ever business year in its history and together with all our colleagues and teams around the world, we are very proud to be able to present these good results to you guys at this stage. I have to say a big thank you to all my board colleagues and all the employees of the group worldwide and obviously to you too. You stayed with us in challenging times and hopefully you will get another fruit of the good times and can enjoy the encore year by year as a sustainable long business case.
The growth and margin improvement we have achieved in all divisions show clearly that the DO & CO business case is unique and makes really sense. After a few difficult years we have finally reached a level of financial stability which I guess is more is one of the best in our industry and is a strong base for further growth and margin improvements. The company is almost step three in terms of bank loans as you know and super ready for the next steps of growth in all areas you know do. DO & CO is all about people, innovation and mass quality. We have passed first time. Let's go through the presentation. We've passed first time the threshold of EUR 2 billion of revenues, exactly EUR 2,298.1 million, which is a step change in our market position.
We are now definitely one of the key players in the league of the biggest companies in the airline hospitality industry worldwide and guess commercially one of the healthiest in terms of product quality and brand portfolio. I guess we're the leader of the industry and please keep in mind that every single penny we produce is a kind of handmade effort. We have no machineries like other industries. Therefore a growth of 26% in sales, EBITDA of EUR 262 million, EBIT of EUR 183 million, and a net result of EUR 92.4 million, which is even a growth of 40%, is very special for us and makes us really proud that we have reached all targets which we communicated and we had for the last business year. If we go to the next page you see the breakdown of the divisions.
Basically EUR 1.8 billion in airline catering, event catering EUR 305 million, and restaurant lounges EUR 172 million. All the growth numbers you see there, I think which is really good is that the profitability is in line and sometimes even over the growth, which shows that we can utilize economies of scale in a good way. On the next page you see a highlight, so to say at a glance, free cash flow of EUR 125.2 million, net debt to EBITDA ratio 0.6, and equity ratio of 37.6% is a strong improvement in comparison to the last year. All divisions have done well. The focus in airline catering on the premium side looks like is the right strategy by covering the front with something others can hardly deliver and doing something in economy which is still better than the rest of the industry. So to say we won numerous tenders.
We're going to come back in a minute to this event catering. You know that we are doing big events, all sport events majorly around the world and the restaurant lounges, hotels with an improvement in margin is very nice too. We have already mentioned innovation, quality, people are the three pillars of our group. Coming to airline catering you see an EBITDA of EUR 200 million. An EBITDA of EUR 137 million shows exactly what I've mentioned before. Turkish Airlines going now to the big markets. Turkish Airlines two tier is still best quality experience. Many Skytrax awards, 500 flights plus a day which is an incredible number. The new airport is working very well. We're doing between 200,000 and 300,000 meals a day which is I guess one of the biggest kitchens in the world.
I think it's very important to note that we produce almost everything in house, so we don't buy in a lot like our competitors. This maybe is even the 300,000 or 200,000, 300,000 meals in this perspective has more value, so to say, as every single dish is produced in house. We have increased our third party customer share. I think we have an incredible market share over there and have almost all of the third party clients. The most important ones, we invest on innovation and the new gourmet kitchen. As reported last time, the construction is now going to start and opening is expected latest in 2028. gategroup, which means London Heathrow and Madrid, two major hubs. The Encore is running very good operational performance in both locations. Fresh menus.
Iberia won international awards for outstanding food service by carrier in Europe in 2024 and is a kind of ambassador of Spanish gastronomy. You see more and more airlines are focusing on hospitality, where I think DO & CO is a really great partner to achieve this. Delta, the other big client, one of the other big clients we have, and we're proud of serving them in many locations. New York, as you know, was a challenge to start with, with more than 200, 300, 350 flights a day, starting from 220 but going up to this in peak season. It is one of Delta's biggest hubs and international hubs, not only for domestic. As you know, we have consolidated the location. We are doing far better than at the beginning. Now there is some homework to do, but I think we are on the right path.
JetBlue, another big one in U.S., another client we're proud of and some new clients as you see in the presentation in almost all locations from various airlines coming to us, new contracts, rest of the world from Air Astana or All Nippon Airways up to China Eastern, Ethiopian, Gulf Air, Hainan, Singapore. You see it in different locations. Swiss, a lot of Asian carriers, they do a little bit more or even more than a little bit in focusing in product quality. I think this is one of the reasons why they choose us. International event catering EUR 305 million of revenues, + 6% EBITDA EUR 39 million, +15% , and EBIT EUR 31 million, +8% , is basically a who and who in the world of sports. You see all the Formula 1, UEFA, FIFA, Bayern München, tennis, golf all together.
We are very proud to be a partner of all these corporations, federations, clubs. This is something we really rely on as it's long term relationships. UEFA for instance started 2000 and 2004 with the first championship. We just did recently the Champions League final. Formula 1 is, as you know, 33 years, another 10 years contract signed. FIFA will have on Saturday the opening match in Miami for the Club World Cup, which is very tiny in Miami and in New York. We are in a tender process for next year where we just submitted the tender. There is no result so far. We are going in the next phase. You see all these clients when we click quickly through loyal long term clients and I think they appreciate the effort, the passion we have and the liability in terms of serving them what they expect.
SAP Garden, Munich has developed capacity of 11,000 guests with a lot of VIPs, ice hockey and basketball games, so doing very well. Ski World Cup we have, I think mentioned already, works very well. The Masters in Madrid is not one of the Grand Slams, but I guess in hospitality it's definitely the Grand Slam with having, I think, 37,000 guests or almost 40,000 guests in two weeks' time. This is one of the biggest hospitalities ever in tennis. The same is with golf, but it's obviously far smaller for Austria. Hahnenkamm races and other festivals are included in this division. The third one is restaurant lounges. This is the part where we come from and we are very proud of. We believe this is the DNA of the encore blood and delivery.
To say we did great improvements, especially in the profitability and in the sales too, with 15% + and EBITDA and EBIT by 49% increased. We believe that there is an incredible market for the future. Now as a stabilized, financially super stabilized company, we can step by step then invest in these areas where we have a B2C business, which is on its own a good business and additionally the R and D of the whole group, which really makes sense as this is the competitive advantage which we have in comparison to all other airline caterers. Demel is doing super well. We have increased the product portfolio of all the chocolates and sweets in terms of gifts. Kaiserschmarrn, which is the Austrian pancake, is incredible, which started during Corona and is still incredible in sales numbers.
The restaurants are doing well in both locations, Munich and Vienna. The hotel is also doing well. Munich Hotel has been awarded by Michelin with one of the keys, Michelin Key awards, which we are very proud of. Airport gastronomy, we have extended the partnership in Vienna for another 10 years and we are going now in a new tender process for the extension of the terminal, which will be due in, I think, two or three years' time. This process just started and will be decided until the end of the year. Our clients in all divisions expect from us extraordinary delivery of customer experience. Just to deliver something is not good enough in terms of comparison with other suppliers or caterers or hospitality companies.
This is the reason why our top clients are willing to pay a little premium for all this effort and know-how advantage which we can deliver to ensure a sustainable business case for the future. We need far more to invest now in people and work on further efficiencies to improve further our margins. That is the reason why our internal focus this year will be very much getting more people with the right hospitality passion to our family. Our company is now one of the best and biggest in this industry, but definitely the premium one. Whoever is interested in this industry, I guess, will rather come hopefully to us. The limitation of our growth is always finding the right people, it is not the business. This is the good news, has nothing to do with CapEx, so to say.
Primarily we have far more demand than we can deliver. We would do wrong if we deliver something which is not in the corridor of the expectation of our clients. To invest in the Academy, the DO & CO Academy will be one of the other objectives this year to train and educate all the current crew and the new ones joining us to become the best in the industry. The third focus will be to improve internal processes, get better efficiencies from procurement to logistics. Integrate first time robots and intelligent solutions in our logistics site so it will be never seen by a client. These are the next steps where we believe very much that it makes sense regarding the current business years. So far all parameters look good, not to say very good.
We see growth in all divisions, expectations and organic growth. Obviously not with 26.29%, it will be the low double digits, something between 8% and 10% which we currently believe is the case in terms of organic growth. I'm not saying that it could not be more. Only if we do acquisitions and further improvement of margins is our other goal. We promised you the 8% EBIT which we delivered. We'll do our best to improve more and more. The growth will be driven through a mix of new clients and expansion of the business with current clients and bottom line growth as already mentioned, with efficiency improvements, especially in the area of logistics which is not visible for the client.
Far better procurement and bundling the volumes in a better way like we did in the past and better utilization of production capacities, although we have a good utilization. Any penny which comes additionally will help to improve our margins and additional business out of the same infrastructure obviously will bring better results. I hope this first update was satisfying and is in a nutshell good enough for you. Johannes is going to continue on the numbers and we will be then happy to answer your Q&As. Thank you very much for listening.
Thank you and good afternoon and good morning from Vienna. Also from my side. Thank you for joining us today for the full year 2024-2025 result presentation. I would like to start with our income statement on page 28. We are pleased to announce that we have once again improved our EBIT margin, increasing it from 7.5% last year to 8.0% this year. Our net result also increased, rising from 3.6% to 4.0%. Please note that hyperinflation IAS 29 is not affecting our EBITDA and EBIT margin as you can see in our financial report, but the net result margin without this effect would be 4.5%. Those numbers demonstrate our focus on sustainable growth and long term profitability. This business year has seen a decrease in our tax ratio from 28.4% to 24%.
The lower tax rate compared to last year is not the result of changes in tax planning, but rather reflects the ongoing evolution of the business. A reduction in the tax rate in Turkey from 41% in fiscal year 2023-2024 to 22% in 2024-2025, partly driven by a reversal of hyperinflationary tax effects, as well as reduced deferred tax valuation allowances have contributed to this result. Our expected core tax ratio for 2025-2026, including any one off effects, is between 25%-26% and all this was achieved by the continuous commitment and dedication of more than 15,000 employees worldwide. I will give you now a detailed overview of our last quarter, slide number 29. As you can see, our total revenue was EUR 524 million, slightly below Q1 but on the other side higher than expected.
In the previous call I mentioned that we expect EUR 500 million, so we are above that target. Our EBITDA margin was 12.5% in Q4, our EBIT margin 8.4%, down from 8.7% in Q3 but higher as in Q2 at 8.1%. Although the revenue in Q4 is the lowest in comparison to Q4 last year you can see an increase of EBITDA of 1.3 percentage points and one percentage point on EBIT margin. Overall we are very satisfied with the result in Q4. It's in line with our internal forecast and it confirms that we are on the right track. Now let's review the results for division on slide number 30 and let me start with the airline catering.
Although revenue in that division was slightly lower in Q4 than in Q2 and Q3 but higher than in Q1, we were able to increase our EBITDA margin to 11.7% and we stabilized our EBIT margin at the same level like in the past two quarters, 8.0%. Our EBIT margin improved year- on- year growing from 7.0% to 7.5%. It is important to note that the first quarter was impacted by startup costs. As we have outlined in our Communications International Event Catering, the EBITDA margin is 20.8% and its EBIT margin is 13.3% in Q4. This is due to a one time release of accruals for Q1 and Q3, so our total year margin is not affected by any one time effect as this is related to our business year 2024-2025. The EBITDA margin of 10.3% in that division is once again slightly better than last year.
In our last division, restaurants, lounges and hotels revenue was higher than in Q1 and Q2 despite having only 28 days in February. That development proves our potential in that division. The higher revenue resulted in an EBIT margin of 9.6%, just 0.1 percentage point lower than in Q3 which was boosted by a very strong Christmas season. Our EBIT margin for 2024-2025 is 8.7% which is 2 percentage points higher than last year. Turning to the balance sheet on slide 31 we see an overall increase year- on- year of just 2.1% reaching EUR 1.2 billion at the end of March 25th. Property, plant and equipment rose by EUR 51.7 million, mainly driven by investments in Turkey, U.S. and Germany. Trade receivables increased by EUR 42.5 million, a clear sign of our robust business demand and cash stands at EUR 174.2 million, EUR 100 million lower than last year.
Please note that we repaid a total of EUR 171.8 million in loans. We will discuss this again on the next slide. Slide 32 clearly shows our impressive equity ratio of 37.6% which has surged from 27.4%. Other financial liabilities within noncurrent and current liabilities decreased by EUR 150 million in total driven by the repayment of loan. The total value of outstanding short-term and long-term loans is EUR 76 million by the end of March 2025, EUR 10 million under noncurrent liabilities and EUR 66 million under current liabilities. The total amount of lease liabilities is EUR 255 million. Look at the cash flow statement on page 33. Please pay attention to our gross cash flow of EUR 249.9 million on this slide. You will see that this is an increase of 38.4% compared to last year. Our free cash flow is EUR 9 million higher than last year.
We have tax payments EUR 30.6 million higher than last year. The repayment of liabilities amounts to EUR 200.5 million including the repayment of loan with the remainder being lease liabilities. Our net debt to EBITDA ratio is 0.6 by the end of our last business year as clearly stated on page 34. We have prepared another slide for you, number 35. This clearly demonstrates the very positive development of the KPIs over the last three years. I would like to highlight only a few numbers. Our EBIT margin has significant growth moving from 6.0% to 7.5% before reaching 8.0% this year. This is a major accomplishment and I'm confident that we will continue to enhance this in the coming years. Our free cash flow of EUR 125.2 million compared to EUR 160 million, EUR 16 million, and EUR 82 million in the past. Our net debt to EBITDA ratio improved from 1.9 to 0.6.
Last but not least, our return of capital employed is an impressive 40.4% showcasing capital efficiency, outperforming industry benchmarks and delivering substantial value creation for our shareholders. Finally, I would like to thank all my colleagues worldwide for the support. Thank you for your attention. I would now like to hand over to Bettina who will provide you with an update on ESG. Thank you.
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to share the successes of our ESG initiatives during the past business year. Our commitment to innovation and growth, always mindful of future generations, has led to significant progress in our ESG strategy last year. Please allow me to highlight two key achievements from the past year. We significantly expanded the scope of our business activities covered by certified environmental management systems. As a result, 51% of our activities are now certified, well above our target of 40% for this year. The second one which I would like to mention is that our science- based targets, the SBTi targets, have officially been validated. We are on a good way on our journey to net zero by 2040.
Data clarity, something very important in order to have a solid basis to sustainably drive the business, we have implemented two new software systems. First, in preparation for the upcoming CSRD, but also to set a new global level of visibility of relevant KPIs leading to business optimization. As mentioned earlier, the ISO certification of our London unit helped us reach 51% EMS certification across our business, and in the Events Division, our local Austrian Event department has been awarded with the Austrian Eco label, which not only proves our high level of quality and dedication to offer sustainable events, but also provides a blueprint to expand the product range to green events globally. Where do we go in our ESG initiatives? After successfully expanding our EMS systems last year, we are continuing to pursue ISO certifications for additional units.
With better data now available, ESG creates further opportunities for driving the business. Finally, our supply chain remains one of our strategic assets, building on highly valued partnerships. In preparation for the new regulations, but also the changing environmental conditions, we will set the focus on maintaining a strong and secure supply chain. Thank you very much. I hand back to my colleague.
Thank you very much. I think we're done with the first part. Now we can move on to the Q&As.
Ladies and gentlemen, we now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one at the telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered the queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Questioners on the phone are requested to disable the loudspeaker mode while asking a question. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. We have a first question coming from the line of Julien Richer from Kepler. Please go ahead.
Yes, good afternoon gentlemen. Three questions for me, if I may. The first one on recent trading. You mentioned the fact that trading so far is good or very good. Some airlines have been talking about weaknesses on transatlantic routes. What are you seeing on those routes? Especially with British Airways or the U.S. airlines you work with? How do you explain the softer Q4 performance during the year? You mentioned, Attila, 8-10% organic revenue growth for 2025-2026. Implicitly, it confirms your EUR 2.5 billion revenue ambition you mentioned during the year. Does that also include some FX impact? Because it seems that the FX will be a headwind in the next 12 months. The second question, in terms of new contracts, you signed several contracts during the year.
Can we have the contribution, I mean out of the close to EUR 500 million revenue you had in 2024-2025, what share of revenue increase was coming from those new contracts? What has been the impact on margin overall during the year? Last question on capital allocation, 0.6 x net debt EBITDA is fair and low level. Let's say if we assume 2x , it is EUR 400 million of cash available. What do you think you can do with that cash? Thank you.
Okay, thank you for your question. Regarding the revenue now in that business year, we do not see any big decrease, reduction, even it's higher than last year. Again, you might know that according to IATA, we're expecting approximately 4% passenger increase. We do not see any big impact. Right now, of course, we are tracking our passenger numbers, our flight numbers on a daily basis. If a reduction would happen, we would be able to react immediately. So far, we do not see any big decrease here in passenger numbers or meal numbers. Regarding your second question, the airline catering revenue in Q4, maybe you ask for the comparison between Q4 and Q3. Yes, you can see a slight reduction in some of our units if you compare the revenue, the allocating revenue per country.
Please consider that especially Q3 is a very strong quarter according to the Christmas season. We were missing two days in Q4. On the other side, please note that the lira devaluated also in Q4. That was also an impact if you look to our Turkey revenue. This softer revenue that you mentioned is not related to any volume reduction or passenger reduction.
Julien, maybe from my side the growth. You know we're always conservative in these kind of things and do not want to over promise. The 8%-10% is something we believe is doable. You're right, this is exactly what we said in terms of we're going to heading EUR 2.5 billion and we said in three years time, where we have another two years is something like EUR 3 billion which we had. If you look on a sales increase of 12%-15% within the next two years, then you end up at EUR 3 billion. This is basically the simple math we do. In this case we are not talking about acquisitions or something like that.
We believe that the current business we have can be expanded with maybe some openings in some areas, but within their own package, so to say without significant acquisitions on the market. Maybe one more thing I want to add on the U.S. Airlines and what they said it might be the case, I know it might be. Sometimes it was the case that in some areas the occupancy level, the load factor as airlines call it, has been dropped down. What happens is they use the aircraft on the destination so they take one out of the fleet instead of flying on the Atlantic and flying somewhere else. For us, honestly we do not care at the end where the destination is as long as it is another long haul. This is what we have seen so far.
So far we do not see any significant change in total numbers we have delivered in terms of meals. So that's what we have.
Julien, to one more question, answer of your question regarding the 25% revenue increase. In Airline Catering we saw an increase in revenue of approximately EUR 440 million. Therefore, around 45% is related to new customers that started operation in 2024-2025 and also the remaining effect of new customers that started partly in 2023-2024. As we mentioned in one of our calls, we faced startup costs in JFK. Nevertheless, the new revenue in all other stations contributed also to our results. The profit margin for those contracts are in line with our group margin or slightly above due to operational leverage. This was the remaining question regarding allocating revenue in 2025.
Just before going to the last question, does it mean that in terms of margin for next year, I mean if I annualize what you had in 2024-2025, you should be at a margin of around 8.4%-8.5%. Q4 is at 8.4%. If I annualize the 100 basis points improvement that you had in H2 for the entire year, you should get around 8.4%-8.5%. Your ambition initially was 8%-8.5% for 2025. What's your view on margin for the next 12 months?
Julien, you're always right. This is exactly the target. This is where we have to go to and we'll go to. Honestly, this is a realistic increase and see where we are. Initially we said 8%-8.5% and now we are heading at 8.4%-8.5%.
Okay. For the capital allocation? Sorry, I interrupted you.
Yes.
Regarding that EBITDA, you are right. We are at the moment at 0.6. This is one of our main goals now to reduce this ratio from 1.9 to 0.6, which is giving us financial power as well now in stability. I think we are ready to go if we get to an opportunity. You're right. I think we are in a very good position now. We do not plan any big investments right now or maybe M&A, but I think we have the power. We are ready to go if we get the right opportunity.
Correct. I mean, it was always shared with you that step one is stabilization of the financials and being healthy and strong for the next step. Now we are investing and have started investing in people in education. As I mentioned before, this is the only driver of the business. We do not suffer in terms of market demand. We need to be careful that we deliver what the market expects in terms of experience. I think a balance sheet like we have, you can always take any loan you wanted. To say, you get opportunities and we will take these opportunities. The clear message is this company will grow, but this company will not go in a stupid, stupid way by diluting margins.
This is definitely not what we have in mind but as I said, the clear goal is the EUR 3 billion in two years time with a margin in terms of double digit. This is what we always stated and which we believe is super realistic even from, I mean far more now than a year ago.
Okay, thank you gentlemen and congratulations again for the very good fiscal year 2024.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Maria Valachyova from Erste Group Bank. Please go ahead.
Yes, hello, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions. Congratulations to excellent results. Yeah, a little bit more on the Forex impact. Do you have by chance any figure for the 2024-2025 fiscal year what it would be the revenues including constant currency. Of course, looking towards the current fiscal year 2025-2026 I think we face rather headwinds. Any kind of estimate. If you said 8%-10%, 8% with bigger headwinds, 10% with less significant, or how to interpret this range or what are the major factors apart from currency? The next question would be related to your CapEx. If you maybe have any update what do you plan to spend in this fiscal year and maybe where the startup cost at JFK? Do you have any quantification or is it simply like that?
Without the startup costs at JFK we would be 8% already in first Q. In fact, recorded 6%. So this would be my question. Thank you.
Thank you, Maria. Let me start with FX. You know that we are very transparent to you and our forecast at the moment, we estimate a lira devaluation of approximately 15%. It is more or less the same level that we faced in 2024-2025. If you compare the FX effect 2024-2025 with 2023-2024, it is approximately EUR 100 million but on the other side the hyperinflation effect was EUR 91 million. This is a compensation more or less. If you look to the 2024-2025 numbers and regarding the U.S. dollar, at the moment in our forecast we expect $1.16, so the current level, and for hyperinflation we expect 33% within that business year. I think that is a very important info for you for your model and I think also very transparent regarding the estimate 8%-10%. Yeah, of course depending as well on the currencies. It is a mixture.
The increase is a mixture of, of course, CPI increases, new customers which is around 3.4%, tender wins that we have already in the books, and according to the study, a 4% increase in passenger volume. That is leading us or bringing us to 8%-10% in that range depending on the lira. If we see some changes in the lira in our next calls, of course, we will give you another update and we will reflect our guidance again.
Thank you.
Your first question regarding CapEx, our CapEx guidance for this year was 3%. It's exactly 3%. If you look to our financial report, it's EUR 68 million for next year. To be honest, we expect 3%-4%. As Mr. Dogudan mentioned, we have to invest into our units, into people, innovation, but also optimization to further increase our margin. That's why our CapEx guidance is a bit higher for this business year, between 3% and 4%.
Okay, thank you.
The next question comes online of Christoph Greulich from Berenberg. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon and thanks a lot for taking my questions. It's three questions from my side please. Firstly, I wanted to just quickly follow up on the EBIT margin targeted you have given for this year. Am I right to assume that if we simply do not have the startup costs at JFK again that would already bring you then to around 8.5% margin? Then I wanted to also follow up on your statement regarding M&A and the general willingness to engage if an attractive opportunity emerges. I would just would like to get a bit of a feeling for how advanced, say, that process is. Would you say it's more of a wait and see approach if anything comes up? Or have you already identified targets that you might be interested in? Are you actively preparing for discussions with potential targets?
If you could provide any color on how advanced those M&A plans are.
Just lastly on the momentum.
In terms of winning your contract, if you could give us an idea of the latest trends there. Have you seen any changes in the frequency that you're receiving tender invitations? Any changes in the success rate? Yeah, that would be very helpful, thank you.
Thank you guys. Let me start with your margin. Yes, of course, you are right. If we reduce the startup costs in those numbers it would be at 8.5% approximately. On the other side, like we mentioned before, we invest into people, innovation, quality that's not always related only to CapEx but also maybe affecting the P & L, but it's not a big effect. That is why our guidance is between 8.5%. Of course our target is 8.5% in regards to the margin.
On the M & A side. You're right, it's a wait and see. I mean basically the strategy is what is the interesting part of the market. You either get a home base which makes sense where you have enough volume with one client or you go in high frequency locations. In terms of high frequency locations we can go on our own. We are working as mentioned last times on the last calls on a system where we have far less CapEx to go in a location because we go with kind of temporary kitchen. Inside of this where the technical requirement is less in terms of CapEx than if you would do it the old way around we can go and open our own stuff. To buy someone just having locations doesn't make sense.
Getting another five locations in the U.S. or 10, honestly if you buy in the wrong culture then it does not make sense. I think we can do our business on our own but where we are definitely looking very, let's say, very interested is always a home base. Whoever comes up with a home base where we have basically the biggest impact to an airline because you do all the outgoing flights in this case, if there is a chance to buy from an airline or to buy something on the market, that would make sense. The other part is we mentioned already we are working on the central production unit. That means that we sell components, food components which we do only internally now in our group, to third party and especially to other airlines too.
In this case you can utilize your existing facilities in a better way, and this is something which we're going to try in U.S. too. The combination of these elements gives us the confidence of, let's say, the base growth of 8%-10%, and we believe very much, additionally to getting new clients, that we open new doors for, let's say, distribution channels which we so far did not touch. This is where we are. I hope this is helpful, maybe just quickly to follow up.
Just today, understanding correctly, would you just describe these are all organic initiatives or does that involve any M & A?
No, it's all organic. Organic, but organic could be if you invest like EUR 10 million in a location and you have another small location where we do another EUR 50 million, something like this instead of investing like EUR 25-EUR 30 million in the past. I think we are dropping down significantly the CapEx to get a new location, which means you can go in locations. If we get a good enough clientele base, then you simply go there. We always go to a location if we have a client, we do not do it the other way around. This is not in line with any M&A. This is us organically.
If we then just also think about the M&A opportunity.
Yeah.
If we could just get a bit of a feeling for how advanced those plans are. Have you identified any specific targets you might have an interest in? Or is that more of an opportunistic approach where you basically just see if any opportunities might come up in the future?
Yeah, I think it's more the second one, seeing four opportunities coming up. As you know, some businesses in this industry are coming on the market now and we'll have a look at it. In general, I can say we're not buying market share for the sake of revenue. If it doesn't make sense in terms of strategy, giving add value to the client, or if it's only driven by logistics and you have very little food, which is another approach where others might have a better business case, then it doesn't make sense for us. We are selling experience combined with hospitality and food and obviously logistics too. If it was only logistics or driven by logistics, like, I don't know, 80%, then I think it doesn't make sense in the portfolio we have. Yes, that's very key.
Just the last question was in terms of the contract win and the tendering momentum, if you have seen any changes there in the trends, kind of how frequently you receive invitations for tenders and your success rate?
Honestly, it's an ongoing process and the success rate is quite high as we are, but we're just participating in tenders where we believe we can win because we give the client an add value. We are not going in every tender, which does not make sense. The success rate is definitely quite high. I would say, I don't know, 70%, 80%, something like this. I don't know the exact number, but high. If we lose, it's simply driven that someone else gives a price where you keep a client for the sake of keeping the client. I think the combination of growth and margin improvement is very rare in this industry. It's more on the sales side. This is always the driver and regardless there is a chance to get a margin or not. I think this should not be our goal.
If you look on the targets, we have explained and told you two years, three years ago, which we could meet and what we are telling you now in terms of heading in after two years, EUR 3 billion on an organic way with improving margins to a double digit. Hopefully this is super realistic if we stay where we are. I think this really makes sense. Then expand in other areas of business, which is not only airline. This company was on sale and you just want to get another EUR 500 million? Honestly, this is easy, but you dilute your margin. If you are a long term investor and you wanted to do it in a proper way, then you have to look on quality or what you stand for.
Everyone is expecting, as I mentioned at the beginning, everyone is expecting from us a different NPS score, different quality, different customer feedback. If you were not able to deliver this, then you simply would not get the premium anymore, which we get. I think this is a clear strategy. DO & CO is a quality provider combined with a ton of innovation and the right people. I think this is exactly where growth and margin will come for the future. Yeah, very clear.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
The next question comes [audio distortion] from HIAB. Please go ahead.
Hi there.
Good afternoon and thank you for taking my questions.
Just a couple.
Mainly on the event opportunity in the U.S., there's been mention of the FIFA World Cup and soccer championships. Can you remind us when these tenders come up and whether you think you'll get a share of this opportunity? Just to follow on, on the tenders, you say you've been selective about them, but what geographies are you focusing on mainly at the moment? I mean, I see that you won Aeromexico out of Detroit recently. Is the Latin American market a potential market to tap into or where do you see the biggest opportunity?
Thank you. Thank you for the question. Coming to the event in the U.S., you're right. FIFA is, will be one of the biggest events ever happened on this planet. The tender process started. We submitted our first offer and we'll get some feedback I think in a couple of weeks and then in the next, I would say, three months. There must be a decision then who's going to get which part. It's a very big one. It's 16 locations, more than 100 games. I think Stadium Theatre have a big call on this too as they have the infrastructure already on site. Again, our chances, like we do now, the Miami and New York, which are kind of prestige locations, New York is going to have all the quarter, semis and the final and Miami starting on Saturday.
I think they have eight matches or something like that. We are just doing the VVIP, which means we have a chance to demonstrate after Formula 1 and the activities we have in the U.S. that we are a U.S. company. We have 4,500 people already working there. We have a lot of experience in football like no one else has. I think hospitality in the U.S. is completely on a different, in sport, hospitality is completely different. We definitely see a good opportunity. Once people experience on their own, that business will come. It is for sure. This business you can only run from your existing kitchens if you have skilled people who are at this level and not, let's say, on an airline commodity level, which we are not.
This is the reason why we have to invest in people, in education, in academy, and these kind of things to cover this kind of demand. This business will definitely come. Coming back to the FIFA, I think in the next two or three months we will get an answer in terms of markets, airline. I think when you talk about Mexico, obviously we would go to Mexico. We have a great event in Mexico for Formula 1 and we will always look for local, let's say, partner in maybe not even the same industry. Tying up with someone if it makes sense. We are super open to go to new markets and see what it is. Mexico is next door to the U.S. The same could be, Canada is an interesting market at the same time, but U.S. itself has incredible opportunities.
If you keep in mind that we have six locations currently and the majority of international carriers fly to 15 + destinations, there is a lot of room for further improvement in terms of getting the same clients in other locations. It is like it is not increasing the frequency in New York from five to six flights a day. Simply, if they are happy in New York and in Miami, they will obviously come in Seattle and San Francisco. If we open a kitchen there, Las Vegas could be one of the locations where we want to go because Formula 1 is there and this is a location where you combine these kind of businesses. This is what we believe is the next step, what we are going to do.
I can't give you like you go to Mexico or this country or that country, but I think we can see in a proactive way maybe the right answer for that.
Thank you very much.
It was more on the tenders for leveraging the current kitchens you have. What other airlines you think are good targets to tender?
If you say in the current locations, we definitely, I mean all the network carriers, we go for tender. What I meant in terms of if someone is only buying logistics, if an American carrier has a location in U.S. somewhere where they just have a handling so to say, and they get very little food and it does not make sense. All locations where we are by nature, everyone is asking, every big airline is asking the two, three players on the market. You always go in this kind of competition and the question is, is it only price driven or is it driven by experience combined with price, which I think is like 30%-40% of the market is driven by quality or more quality.
We see, especially now with American carriers too, that if you look to the ticket prices, they are charging a lot of money for this kind of transatlantic or Pacific flight and even domestic flights in first class. There is some room for the market we have. We go in every tender with every major airline. Definitely.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome. I hope this was good enough.
As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star on your telephone. There are no more questions at this time.
I would now like to turn the.
Conference back over to Attila Dogudan for any closing remarks.
As a summary, I would like to thank you for all your trust and staying with us. As I mentioned, in bad times and we hope that we are facing good times. This industry is always shaky, we know that. We are well prepared for changes, so to say, or market changes. As you know, 70%-80% of our costs are variable cost. We can adapt quickly and we'll focus in all divisions to get this kind of healthy balance. Why our numbers are improving. It's not only getting the one or other client in airline catering, so to say, it's a mix of the business, which makes the business case as a unique business case. That's exactly why we are confident by improving the margin. What we have to do now is additionally to what I've mentioned is bringing our brands more visible.
I think if you are financially healthy, then we can have a different approach in all these things and this will be our target. What we see as a summary currently is good signs, good parameters for this year. We do not expect currently any significant changes. If then we will tell you and we will see what is going to happen. You know that we have always reacted quickly if something happens. We are always careful on the downside, so to say, and take every opportunity on the upside. The only limitation is we do not want to harm the brand. We believe we have to deliver these ADD values. As long as the NPS scores and customer satisfactions are fine, we are always entitled to get the premium. This is where we are.
I hope this is a strategy you can share and I hope it makes sense for everyone and we believe very much that we are heading kind of good times and hope that we can deliver all your expectations. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you very much for your support and have a good day. Good evening wherever you are. Thank you.