Malta International Airport plc - Quarterly Update

On 17 May, Malta International Airport plc published an Interim Directors’ Statement updating the market on its financial performance during the first quarter of 2016.

The Directors noted that, during the first three months of 2016, the financial position of the Company has remained sound and the performance has been much better than expected. Following the 15.5% increase in passenger traffic between January and March and continued growth in the retail sector of the business, the Company’s revenues for the first quarter of 2016 amounted to €11.59 million representing a 5.1% increase over the previous period’s comparable period. Similarly, the Company’s profits grew by 7.6% to €1.46 million.

The announcement also explained that the start to the summer schedule was positive with a 5.7% increase in passenger traffic during the month of April as the Company welcomed three new carriers, namely Volotea, Czech airlines and Iberia Express, whilst other airlines, including Ryanair, Aegean, Finnair and Turkish Airlines are adding new routes and/or increasing capacity on existing routes. On the other hand, this growth may be partially offset by a reduction in routes or seat capacity of a number of airlines. As a result, the Directors are cautiously optimistic about the remaining summer months but nonetheless expect to close off the summer season with an overall positive result.

The traffic statistics for the first four months of the year in fact show a 12% growth with 1,216,133 passenger movements on the back of an 8.8% increase in seat capacity as well as a 3 percentage point increase in the seat load factor to 78.8%.

In their concluding remark, the Directors anticipate that the Company’s financial results for the year should be within the projections made at the beginning of the year.