Spanish airports operator, Aena, describes its 2015 financial position as “excellent” with results in line with traffic growth which it says highlights its efficiency ratios, stability and ability to generate cash. Duty free and travel retail sales will likely be an important contributor to its final revenue and profitability.  

Commercial incomes in the first three quarters of the year leapt by between +13.5% and +16% in each quarter, and for the first nine months of 2015 stood at €687.8m/$768m (see table below and click to enlarge).

The company – whose share price has soared by +65% since listing – has made the statement in advance of is full year results later this month, on the back of strong growth in passenger traffic of +5.9% to more than 207m in its airport network.

Of this total, 206.6m were commercial passengers, of which about 144.5m used international flights, +5.9% up on 2014, and a new record. Domestic traffic reached 62.1m, a rise of +6.1%, year-on-year.

The most important Spanish hub, Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suárez closed the best year of the past four with 46.8m passengers, up +11.9% YoY. After an extended period of contracting traffic following the global financial crisis, the airport has now had 23 consecutive months of growth.

Meanwhile, Barcelona-El Prat, the number two airport in the Aena network, achieved a record 39.7m passengers, up +5.7% YoY.

SHARES ROCKET UPWARDS

Aena’s share price has rocketed by +65% ​​in its first year on the stock exchange, rising from €58/ $64.70 on 11 February 11 2015 to yesterday’s close of €95.6/$106.68. This makes it the biggest airport management company by market capitalisation. At their peak, on 17 December, Aena shares were valued at €110.10.

According to Aena its market capitalisation stands at more than €14bn, compared to Aéroports de Paris’s approximately €10bn, and Fraport’s €5bn. At the time, the initial public offering of Aena was the biggest in Europe since 2011, and in Spain since 2007, and the world’s fifth biggest in 2015.