Malta International Airport plc - Interim Results

On 25 July 2018, Malta International Airport plc (“MIA”) published its interim financial statements covering the six-month period ended 30 June 2018.

Performance Overview

During the first half of 2018, MIA registered an 11.5% increase in revenue to a record (at interim stage) of €40.9 million (H1 2017: €36.7 million) on the back of growth in both the ‘Airport’ segment as well as the ‘Retail and Property’ segment. Turnover from the ‘Airport’ segment increased by 11.8% to just under €29 million (H1 2017: €25.9 million) reflecting the 16.3% increase in passenger movements during the first six months of 2018 to nearly 3.07 million. The growth in passenger numbers resulted from a 17% increase in seat capacity as well as a 16.6% increase in aircraft movements. Moreover, despite the substantial increase in seat capacity and aircraft movements, the seat load factor remained broadly unchanged at just under 80%. Revenues from the ‘Retail and Property’ segment increased by nearly 12% to €11.8 million (H1 2017: €10.5 million). Overall, the ‘Airport’ segment contributed nearly 71% of total revenues while the non-aviation segment accounted for the remaining 29%.

In view of the increased level of business, operating costs expanded by 7.4% (or +€1.42 million) to €20.6 million, mostly driven by increases in HR and other operating costs. Depreciation charges also increased (+7.7%), reflecting the various capital investments undertaken by MIA in recent months. Nonetheless, operating profit still grew by 15.8% to €20.4 million from €17.6 million in the previous comparable period. Excluding depreciation, EBITDA surged by 14.6% to €23.9 million (H1 2017: €20.9 million) and the EBITDA margin improved to 58.6% from 57% in the first half of 2017.

After accounting for net finance costs of €0.18 million (H1 2017: €0.52 million), MIA reported a pre-tax profit of €20.2 million, representing an 18.3% increase over the previous comparable figure of €17.1 million. The tax charge for the period amounted to €7.23 million, leading to a net profit of just over €13 million which is 18.3% higher than the net profit registered during the previous comparable six months (€11 million).

The condensed Statement of Financial Position as at 30 June 2018 shows a 12.3% drop in total assets to €160.4 million when compared to the €182.9 million figure as at 31 December 2017, mainly reflecting the significant decline in cash balances to €8.86 million from €38.4 million as MIA used its substantial liquidity to pay-off all of its bank borrowings amounting to €33 million. As a result, total liabilities also contracted and they now amount to €61.1 million (-29.8%). Overall, given the larger amount of decline in total liabilities, MIA’s equity base increased by 3.7% to €99.3 million. This translates into a net asset value (“NAV”) per share of €0.7339 (including the unlisted ‘B’ and ‘C’ shares) compared to a NAV per share of €0.7077 as at 31 December 2017.

Dividend  

For the eleventh consecutive year, the Directors of MIA declared an unchanged gross interim dividend of €0.0462 per share (net: €0.03 per share). Given the significant improvement in the company’s profitability, coupled with the unchanged amount of dividend distribution, the payout ratio dropped to just over 31%. Shareholders as at the close of trading on Monday 20 August will be entitled to receive the dividend which is expected to be paid by not later than Friday 14 September 2018.

Revised Forecasts  

MIA also announced that it will be issuing an updated guidance for 2018 which will show an improved overall operational and financial performance of the company. On 12 January 2018, MIA had forecast a growth of between 7% to 9% in passenger numbers to 6.5 million for 2018. The airport operator had also presented a set of financial targets for the entire financial year ending 31 December 2018. These had shown that MIA was expecting to generate over €87 million in revenues, an EBITDA of over €52 million and a net profit of over €28 million.

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Malta International Airport plc – Interim report for the six months ended 30 June 2018.