During the meeting of the Board of Directors of Malta International Airport plc held on Wednesday 07th August 2013, the Group’s interim financial statements for the six months ended 30th June 2013 were approved.
The group’s turnover for the period at Euro 25.2 million is significantly higher than the same period last year (January to June 2012 – Euro 22.7 million), reflecting the increase in passenger numbers and the increase in non-aviation revenue from the subsidiary companies, Sky Parks Business Centre Ltd and Airport Parking Ltd. Revenue from the Airport segment compared to total revenue decreased from 71.9% to 69.8%; whilst the revenue from the Retail and Property segment increased from 27.0% to 29.5%. Staff costs have increased from Euro 3.7 million to Euro 3.9 million largely due to contractual collective agreements and a staff early retirement scheme carried out in the first quarter of 2013. Both operating costs and depreciation costs have also increased to reflect the additional commercial activity generated by Skyparks Business Centre. In the first six months of 2012, Skyparks Business Centre was not operational.
The profit for the period is Euro 5.11 million compared to the Euro 4.48 million for the same period in 2012, an increase of 14.1%.
The Board of Directors noted with satisfaction that Passenger movements in the first six months of 2013 increased by 9.2% over the corresponding period of 2012, reaching 1.73 million passengers (2012 - 1.58 million). This growth was driven by a 7.6% increase in capacity coupled with a one percentage point increase in seat load factor.
New tenants continued to take up residence at Skyparks Business Centre during the first six months of 2013. The fitting out process of the various offices is taking more time than anticipated but all areas are expected to be made available to tenants by the end of 2013. It is estimated that a further Euro 2 million will be required to complete the building to the internal fit-out standards contracted by prospective tenants. So far 90% of the available space in the building is covered by lease agreements in hand, some of which are yet to commence.
Updated Forecast
During the first half of the year traffic has exceeded our forecast for the period partly due to the additional capacity that was brought on by the introduction of five new carriers as well as by the strong load factors from all carriers during the period. Taking into account these traffic results for the first six months of the year and the revised schedule of traffic for the rest of 2013, we are revising our forecast for the entire 2013 from 3.63 million passenger movements to 3.89 million. This is 6.7% more than the passenger movements of 2012.
Dividends
The Group is proposing a net interim dividend of €0.03 per share on all shares settled as at close of business on Monday 19th August 2013 and payable by not later than Monday 23rdSeptember 2013.
The interim financial statements are available for viewing at the registered office of the Company and on the Company’s websitewww.maltairport.com.