Emirates Group's airport, travel unit dnata looking at M&A deals

Emirates Group's dnata, which provides airport and travel services in over 30 countries, is looking at merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities across several businesses and geographies, including South America, its CEO said on Tuesday. "We are probably, at any time, talking to 40 different companies" and "plenty" of deals are "at the end of the pipeline", CE Steve Allen told Reuters, noting the company focuses on small to medium size acquisitions. South America is "a huge growth market opportunity" he said, mentioning countries such as Brazil. He added that globally there was significant scope for consolidation in airport ground handling. Founded in 1959, dnata is a sister company to Emirates airline. Its operations include supplying airlines with catering and handling baggage and cargo. It also owns companies that sell holiday packages and provide retail and corporate travel booking services. Dnata's profit in the year ended March 31 more than quadrupled to 1.4b dirhams ($381.2m), according to the Emirates Group annual report released on Monday. Dnata's revenues, which climbed nearly 30% to 19.2b dirhams, were boosted by more flights and travel globally. Allen told reporters the results were also helped by long-terms business contracts that dnata renegotiated recently to factor in higher wage rates and food costs.<br/>