BAA profits soar amid record passengers
British airports operator BAA today posted a forecast-beating 18.8% rise in annual profits after a record number of passengers used its airports.
The group, whose seven sites include Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, said passenger traffic numbers lifted 6.3% to 141.7 million in the year to March 31, meeting its target of 6% growth.
An increase in the amount of cash spent by passengers also contributed to pre-tax profits before exceptional items rising to £637m (€927m).
Chief executive Mike Clasper said he now expected a 3.5% rise in passenger traffic at the London sites to help BAA turn in a “robust” performance in its new financial year.
Much of the growth came in the first half of the year, reflecting the industry’s recovery from the impact of war in Iraq and the Sars outbreak a year earlier.
The average amount taken by BAA from retail operations at its airports rose to £4.16 (€6.05) from £4.12 (€6.00) per passenger a year earlier despite “extremely challenging” conditions, leaving total retail income 7.3% higher at £588m (€855.7m).
Revenues from regulated airport charges advanced 13.1% to £811m (€1.2bn) with the average charge per passenger standing at £5.66 (€8.24).
Efforts to improve check-in and security screening at Heathrow contributed to a 5.3% hike in passenger growth at the airport to 67.7 million.
Gatwick’s passenger traffic broke through the pre-September 11 level for the first time, while the introduction of new routes from Stansted boosted its passenger growth by 9.1% to 21.2 million.
An increasing number of long-haul routes from Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as domestic and European growth at Aberdeen, helped increase the number of passengers using the three Scottish airports by 6% to 19.3 million.
At the bottom line, pre-tax profits increased by 36% to £733m (€1.1bn) including a one-off property-related profit of £112m (€163m).
BAA said it was making good progress on the building of a fifth terminal at Heathrow Airport, with the project almost 60% completed.
