By Dominic Welling
Fraport's revenue increased by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2011, from €476.1 million to €508.6 million, with the operator attributing the upturn to a "significant" growth in passengers across its airport network.
Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) at the group also soared by 11% in the first three months of the year, while group profit increased sixfold to €24.2 million over the last year.
EBITDA jumped from €115.8 million in the first quarter of 2010, to €128.5 million over the first three months of this year.
Meanwhile group profit soared from just €4 million in the first three months of 2010 to €24.2 million in the same period this year.
Dr Stefan Schulte, executive board chairman of Fraport AG, says: "The noticeable rise in the group's passenger figures during the first quarter of 2011 has had a positive impact on the development of Fraport's key financial figures"
The group experienced strong passenger traffic growth in the first part of the year, with around 11.8 million passengers passing through Frankfurt, the group's main airport, alone.
Fraport's international investment airports also showed significant traffic growth over the quarter, and contributed to more than a third of the overall year-on-year increase in revenue of around €32 million.
For example, Lima Airport in Peru saw passenger numbers increase 20.9% to 2.8 million in the first quarter of the year, while Antalya Airport in Turkey served 2.2 million passengers - up14.1%.
In total, the group's five majority-owned airports welcomed 16.9 million passengers in the first three months of the year, which equates to an increase of 7.7%.
Benefiting from this increase in traffic development, Fraport's Aviation and Retail & Real Estate areas saw a particularly strong increase in revenue.
Compared with the first quarter of 2010, the net retail revenue per passenger increased from €3.07 to €3.32.
Meanwhile, Fraport's total operating expenses hit €397.4 million in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of €20 million compared with a year earlier.
Combined with a €33 million increase in revenue, the group's operating result hit €13 million.
Dr Schulte adds: "We are maintaining our full year 2011 forecast. Thus, revenue is expected to exceed €2.3 billion, while the group's EBITDA is forecast to grow in the range of 10 to 15%.
"Because of a high release of provisions in fiscal year 2010, the executive board expects group profit to decline slightly in 2011. Adjusted for this effect, however, the overall result for 2011 is expected to increase noticeably."
