Fraport Group result rises significantly

In the first six months of the 2017 business year (January to June), Fraport AG’s Group revenue advanced to almost €1.4bn, an increase of €130.6m or 10.7% year-on-year. Reasons for this positive performance included strong passenger growth and higher revenue gained from property sales, as well as increased retail revenue achieved at the Group’s home base Frankfurt Airport. Beyond Frankfurt, revenue growth was driven, in particular, by the Group’s Fraport Greece subsidiary, which commenced operations on April 11, 2017, and Fraport’s Lima Airport subsidiary. The increase in operating expenses resulted, in particular, from the rise in personnel expenses at Fraport AG; higher concession payments (traffic-related) at the Lima subsidiary; increased expenses paid in connection with higher revenue from property sales in the Retail & Real Estate business segment; and the takeover of operations at the Greek regional airports. The Group’s EBITDA and EBIT both increased markedly by 11.0% to €420m and by 12.2% to €240.7m, respectively. Also the improved financial result led to a significant surge in the Group’s EBT, growing by €44.5m or 30.5% to €190.3m. With payments for taxes on income amounting to €53.4m (in 6M/2016: €46.1m), the Group result (net profit) reached €136.9m – an increase of €37.2m. Reflecting the positive operational performance across the Group, free cash flow expanded by 32.7%, from €149.3m to €198.1m in the first six months of 2017. In view of the upcoming takeover of Fortaleza (FOR) and Port Alegre (POA) airports in Brazil and the investment program planned for these gateways, Fraport AG’s executive board expects the Group’s overall net financial debt to rise to some 1.2bn during the full year 2017 – in line with the outlook already reported in Fraport’s First Quarter 2017 Interim Release.