Lojas Francas de Portugal (LFP) is ranked top of the 500 Biggest & Best Companies operating in the retail sector in Portugal. This table is prepared by Exame magazine based on a series of indicators and economic/financial ratios that allow it to sketch a profile of the main companies and sectors of activity. According to the magazine, the aim of the EXAME 500 is to measure companies’ performance, dynamism and contribution to national wealth.
Created in 1995, LFP results from a joint venture between TAP (Portugal’s leading airline), which holds 51%, and the Nuance Group (world leader in airport retail), with 49%. It is the leading retail company in Portuguese airports, where it manages and operates 18 stores in Lisbon, Oporto, Faro, Ponta Delgada, Santa Maria and Horta airports. The company also manages the on-board sales business for TAP and STP Airways, preparing the sales catalogue and performing all the logistical preparations, supplier negotiations and business management.LFP is featured in the EXAME magazine 2009 Special Edition – 500 Biggest & Best. The results achieved by this TAP Group company are highlighted due to their “introduction of various measures to boost sales, optimise resources and increase efficiency”, enabling their profits to grow by around 20% in 2008, "a year in which the economic climate was not favourable for consumer goods," remarked the magazine.
Nuno Amaral, deputy director of LFP, says that the performance of the company’s employees was key to achieving these results in 2008, together with the introduction of “plans to improve internal efficiency and productivity and cut costs.” Exame magazine also describes LFP’s efforts to promote greater efficiency in negotiating with suppliers, increase investment in marketing and implement an intensive internal training programme geared towards customers’ needs, as well as renewing their image and retail spaces, opening new stores and targeting new passenger flows.
