Fraport starts off the year with mixed financial results

In the first quarter of 2016, some 13 million passengers passed through Frankfurt Airport (FRA), representing an increase of 3.3 percent year-on-year. On the back of that growth, Fraport achieved higher revenue from airport and infrastructure charges as well as from aircraft handling. Simultaneously, net retail revenue per passenger declined from €3.93 to €3.62 on the previous year. One reason was the non-recurrence of particularly high income gained in the first quarter of 2015, when the cap on the Swiss franc’s euro exchange rate was removed. Other reasons included a changed passenger structure and a decline in the average retail spending of Chinese and Russian passengers, reflecting the loss of purchasing power of their respective currencies. Outside Frankfurt, the Group’s subsidiaries – particularly in Lima and Ljubljana as well as Twin Star and AMU Holdings Inc. – contributed positively to Fraport’s overall revenue performance. While the airports in Ljubljana (Slovenia), Varna and Burgas (Bulgaria), Xi’an (China), Hanover (Germany), and Lima (Peru) partially recorded strong traffic growth, passenger figures at the airports in Antalya (Turkey) and St. Petersburg (Russia) declined in line with expectations. Adjusted Group revenue rose by €14.7m (up 2.6%) to €572.5m in the first quarter of 2016. The Group’s operating result or EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) declined by 4.9% to €145.6m in the first quarter, due to higher expenditure resulting from, among other things, collective wage agreements and non-capitalizable investments made at FRA. In contrast, the Group’s financial result improved from €-56.4m to €-42.5m, due to lower interest expenses and lower losses related to currency exchange rates. This led to an overall positive performance of the Group result, soaring by €4.5m (or 42.5%) to €15.1m year-on-year. Correspondingly, earnings per share rose by €0.05 to €0.16 – an increase of 45.5%.