The Fraport Group’s airport Retail & Real Estate division has reported its Retail and Retail Estate business up 6.3% to €394.2m ($459.1m) in the first nine months of 2017, at the same time that passenger traffic rose 4.6% to ‘about’ 48.9m passengers, setting a new all-time record.

 

HEALTHY 9M REVENUE RISE

The airports company’s first nine-month results recorded a healthy 13.7% increase in group revenue to €2.23bn ($2.59bn), helped by the incremental contribution from the company’s international business driven mainly by the operational takeover of the 14 Greek airports – plus revenue increases at Fraport’s Lima Airport company.

 

In general, Fraport management said that growth was also stimulated by higher revenue due to increased passenger numbers, plus the ’higher proceeds from retail and security services in addition to the sale of the company’s property sites.

Increased passenger numbers at Fraport also translated into higher retail and car park revenues, although net retail income per passenger fell by -2.1% year-on-year to €3.31 ($3.85) compared with the previous year’s €3.38 ($3.93).

 

CURRENCY DEPRECIATION

This fall was primarily caused by the depreciation of various currencies against the euro, as well as the changing passenger mix at FRA.

 

Fraport said: “Passengers flying on European routes tend to spend less than passengers on intercontinental routes – with European traffic growing particularly strongly at FRA. But in total, retail revenue grew further. Segment EBITDA grew slightly by 2.2% to €288.2m ($335.7m), while segment EBIT climbed by 3.2% to €225.6m ($262.8m).”

 

The airports group added that operating earnings (EBITDA) increased by 19.4% to €807.7m ($941.2m), while the group result grew by 43.3% to €342.3m ($398.8m). Operating cash flow also rose markedly by 37.3% to €687.4m ($801m) and free cash flow was up by 25.1% to €388m ($452.1m).

 

EBITDA +77.8%

Meanwhile, the External Activities & Services division saw revenue increase dramatically by 51.2% to €631m ($735.3m) in the first nine months, driven manly by Fraport Greece (+€181.4m/$211.4m) and the group’s operation in Lima, Peru (+€19.7m/$22.9m).

 

Fraport added that despite rising expenses, segment EBITDA saw a significant increase of 77.8% to €280.1m ($326.3m). Increased depreciation and amortization, which partly resulted from Fraport Greece and Fraport U.S.A., led to segment EBIT of €192.4m ($224.1m) – representing growth of 97.9%.

 

 

Fraport AG Executive Board Chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte commented: “After the first nine months of the year, we are absolutely on course to achieve our annual targets. The solid performance delivered by our group airports made a particularly important contribution to the rising result.

 

 

GLOBAL AIRPORTS’ EXPANSION CONTINUES

“With the successful operational takeover of the 14 Greek airports and the double-win of two airport concessions at Fortaleza and Porto Alegre in Brazil, we are systematically expanding our global airport business. Furthermore, we are also achieving solid growth in Frankfurt again, where we made the necessary strategic decisions at the right time.”

 

Fraport’s executive board says it is now anticipating growth in passenger traffic at Frankfurt of around five per cent for the entire current year.