Flughafen Wien Group: 13.7% increase in net profit to € 84.7 million for the first nine months of 2008. +9.0% in passengers at Vienna International Airport
- +10.6% in revenue to € 418.0 million
- +7.9% in EBITDA to € 164.2 million
- +11.0% in EBIT to € 112.8 million
- +13.7% in net profit to € 84.7 million
- +13.5% in earnings per share to € 4.03
- 8.0% to 6.0% reduction in passenger forecast for 2008
Revenue recorded by the Flughafen Wien Group rose by 10.6% to € 418.0 million for the first nine months of 2008. EBITDA increased 7.9% to € 164.2 million and EBIT 11.0% to € 112.8 million. The EBITDA margin declined 1.0 percentage points to 39.3%, primarily due to a rise in the cost of consumables that exceeded the growth in revenue. The EBIT margin equalled 27.0%, reflecting an improvement of 0.1 percentage points. Profit attributable to the shareholders of the parent company totalled € 84.7 million, for an increase of 13.7% over the comparable prior year period.
Solid growth in traffic
With a plus of 9.0% in the number of passengers to approx. 15.3 million for the first three quarters, Vienna International Airport again outpaced the growth of 1.2% reported by Airports Council International for the branch in Europe. The number of passengers travelling to North America increased 14.6%. Vienna was also able to strengthen its excellent market position in traffic to Eastern Europe, as is demonstrated by the 16.2% expansion in passenger volume to this region. The low-cost carriers again reported above-average growth with an increase of 44.9%, which raised their share of the total passenger volume at Vienna International Airport from 17.4% to 23.2%; the seat occupancy on flights by these airlines equalled 68.8%.
International holdings
Košice Airport reported an increase of 48.5% to 486,351 passengers for the first three quarters of 2008. The number of passengers handled by Malta Airport during the reporting period rose by 7.8% to 2,504,600. With 519,921 passengers, Friedrichshafen Airport was able to match the prior year level.
Corporate spending
The major investments for the first three quarters of 2008 included the terminal expansion VIE-Skylink at € 105.7 million, the expansion of car park 4 (completed in June) at € 11.9 million, baggage sorting equipment at € 8.4 million, security systems at € 5.4 million, the expansion of the northeast apron at € 4.9 million and the new fire department headquarters at € 4.5 million.
Outlook
The development of traffic at Vienna International Airport reflected the general trend in the aviation branch with a decline in October. Passenger volume fell by 2.1%, but flight movements and maximum take-off weight (MTOW) increased 0.3% and 2.5%, respectively. The number of passengers (scheduled and charter) travelling to Eastern Europe was 2.9% lower in October 2008, while the other European destinations recorded a drop of 5.3%. This slower growth in passenger volume has led to a revision of traffic forecasts for the full 12 months of 2008: Flughafen Wien AG now expects an increase of 6.0% in the number of passengers this year (instead of the previously announced 8.0%), and current information indicates that flight movements should increase 5.0% (instead of the previously announced 6.0%). The forecast for maximum take-off weight (MTOW) remains unchanged at 6.0%. These results will still place Vienna International Airport significantly above the European average.
Traffic forecasts for 2009 will be announced at a press conference in January 2009.