Fraport reports strong traffic and financial performance in 2011

Strong growth again characterized Fraport AG’s traffic and financial results for fiscal year 2011. Serving 56.44 million passengers in 2011, Fraport’s Frankfurt Airport (FRA) home base set a new annual passenger record and registered a 6.5 percent gain year-on-year. Fraport’s majority-owned airports around the world recorded a 9.1 jump in traffic to 96.63 million passengers, thus continuing their dynamic contribution to the Group’s success.

“Once again, our good traffic performance had a positive effect on the Group’s financial figures,” said Fraport AG executive board chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte. “The operating result or EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) rose by approximately 13 percent to €802.3 million. This clearly exceeded the previous record figure of €711 million in 2010. The Fraport Group’s €250.8 million profit decreased by 7.6 percent year-on-year, but – adjusting for the release of tax provisions in 2010 – the underlying profit actually increased by €60 million. In 2010, an €80 million one-off release in tax provisions was included in the Group result of about €272 million. In 2011, Group revenue rose by eight percent to €2.37 billion.”

External Activities, one of Fraport’s four business segments, continued to show a steady upward trend – contributing 20 percent to Group revenue and almost 32 percent to EBITDA. “Fraport’s majority-owned airports in Lima, Peru, and Antalya, Turkey, as well as our two Bulgarian airports in Burgas and Varna, again achieved excellent performance in 2011. Revenue for this segment climbed by 13 percent to €496.1 million, while EBITDA rose by six percent to €254.7 million,” said Schulte.

The Aviation and the Retail & Real Estate segments also reported strong growth in 2011. The Aviation segment benefited from higher proceeds from airport charges – due to greater traffic volumes and price effects – with the segment’s revenue advancing by 11.7 percent to €774.9 million. Revenue for the Retail & Real Estate segment soared by more than 10 percent to €444.7 million in the reporting year. Effective cost management enabled the Ground Handling segment to achieve a strong increase in results, despite the revenue decline experienced in freight handling activities and deicing services.

Thus, total revenue for the Ground Handling segment fell slightly by 0.5 percent to €655.5 million, but the operating result surged by 23.6 percent to €54.5 million.

For 2012, Schulte expects passenger traffic growth at FRA to be under four percent – particularly because of the impact of strikes in connection with the wage conflict between the GdF union and Fraport. Revenue is expected to exceed €2.5 billion, while EBITDA is forecast to increase by at least five percent. Because of the strong financial results in 2011, Fraport AG’s executive and supervisory boards will recommend to the annual general meeting (AGM) on May 11 that the dividend be maintained at €1.25 per share.