Auckland Airport underlying profit up $120.9m

NZPA

Tuesday 23rd August 2011

Auckland Airport lifted full year underlying profit 15.1 percent to $120.9 million, as passenger numbers grew and income from retail sales and carparking rose.

Chief executive Simon Moutter said much of the strength of the announced underlying profit for the year to June resulted from a 9.5 percent rise in total income to $397.7m.

Key drivers of that growth were better than expected retail results in the new departures area and a stronger yield in car parking, particularly through a new online booking channel.

Operating costs were up 14.6 percent to $99.5m, largely flowing from higher promotional costs related to the successful launch of several new services including China Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Jetstar to Singapore.

A final dividend of 4.7c per share is to be paid, taking the total for the year to 8.7cps, up from 8.2cps the year before.

As well as Auckland Airport, the company has investments in Cairns Airport and Mackay Airport in Queensland, and Queenstown Airport.

At Auckland, international passenger numbers grew 4.9 percent to 7.8m and domestic passenger numbers held firm with 6m. In North Queensland, international passengers through Cairns rose 20.7 percent to 750,000 and domestic passengers grew 6.1 percent to 3.2m. Domestic traffic at Mackay increased 14.3 percent to 1m. At Queenstown, international passenger numbers grew 49.7 percent to 160,000 and domestic numbers grew 8.4 percent to 760,000.

Chairwoman Joan Withers said net profit, excluding fair value changes and other one-off items, was expected to be in the $130ms in the current financial year, although she was cautious about implications of volatility in global financial markets.

Reported net profit -- which includes factors such as one-off gains, property value increases, and tax effects -- was $100.8m from $29.7m a year earlier.

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