Results For Nine Months to December 2003
BAA, the international
airports group and owner of seven UK airports, including the
world's busiest international airport, Heathrow, reported on Monday
a continued year on year improvement in passenger numbers, revenue
and profit in its third quarter and said that it expected this
trend to continue.
"Operationally, passenger numbers continued to rise, retail
performance has been excellent and operating costs, including
increased security and maintenance expenditure, have come in on
target", commented Mike Clasper, Chief Executive of BAA.
Group revenue was 499 million pounds sterling for the quarter,
an increase of 4.2% on the comparable quarter in 2002 (479 million
pounds restated), while Group operating profit rose 8.0% to 149
million pounds (2002: 138 million pounds). For the nine months,
Group revenue increased 3.5% to 1,540 million pounds (2002: 1,488
million pounds restated) and Group operating profit grew 1.0% to
500 million pounds (2002: 495 million pounds).
Traffic
In the three months to 31 December 2003, traffic at BAA's UK
airports increased 5.6%, to 31.8 million passengers (2002: 30.1
million). Passenger numbers were up at all airports except
Aberdeen. Heathrow passenger numbers rose 3.4% to 15.9 million
(2002: 15.4 million) reflecting a continued steady recovery in
economic conditions and passenger confidence following the Iraq war
and SARS epidemic. Growth was strongest at Stansted and
Southampton, which recorded increases of 19.5% and 76.7%
respectively as a result of the continued growth in low cost
services. For the nine-month period UK passenger traffic grew by
3.4%.
Total revenue and airport charges
UK airport revenue, including WDF, increased by 8.1% to 455
million pounds (2002: 421 million pounds) in the three month
period, with Heathrow revenue growing by 8.7% to 212 million pounds
(2002: 195 million pounds). Stansted showed the fastest growth of
the South East airports, increasing revenue to 35 million pounds
(2002: 30 million pounds) while Southampton doubled its revenue to
6 million pounds.
Underlying this increase in total revenue was a 9.5% increase in
airport and other traffic charges (from 158 million pounds,
restated, to 173 million pounds). This reflects the 5.6% growth in
passenger traffic and the regulatory price increase at Heathrow and
Gatwick, partially offset by yield dilution at the other
airports.
Operating profit
Operating profit for the three months at the UK airports
(excluding WDF) grew 9.8% to 135 million pounds (2002: 123 million
pounds). Heathrow's operating profit increased 13.8%, reflecting
both the rise in airport charges yield and the strength of the
retail performance, while Stansted's operating profit was stable at
8 million pounds (2002: 8 million pounds) as operating costs
increased to support the airport's faster than expected traffic
growth. Gatwick also reported a flat operating profit of 15 million
pounds (2002: 15 million pounds) primarily as a result of the
planned increases in security costs. Southampton's revenue growth
led to an operating profit of 2 million pounds (2002: 1 million
pounds).
For the nine-month period, operating profit of the UK airports,
excluding WDF, rose 1.8% to 458 million pounds (2002: 450 million
pounds).
During the third quarter, WDF increased its operating profit
14.3% to 8 million pounds (7 million pounds) and 10.5% to 21
million pounds (2002: 19 million pounds) for the nine-month
period.