MAHB Q3 net profit doubles

Airport operator expects higher passenger traffic in Malaysia

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd‘s net profit surged 108% to RM168.49mil in the third quarter ended Sept 30 and it expects the current financial year to be better due to higher passenger traffic for Malaysia and growth momentum in Turkey.

MAHB said the higher earnings compared with the RM80.93mil a year ago was due to higher revenue and other income, and lower overall cost recorded in the current quarter.

Its revenue increased by just 1.5% to RM1.23bil from RM1.21bil. Earnings per share were 9.28 sen compared with four sen.

MAHB said airport operations recorded revenue growth of 1.7% to RM1.15bil. Aeronautical segment increased by 4.5% to RM632.4mil.

Malaysia operations recorded passenger growth of 2.0% (international: +3.1%, domestic: +0.8%) to 25 million passengers versus 24.5 million passengers a year ago.

The passenger traffic for the Turkey operations increased by 7.8% (international: +6.3%, domestic +8.6%) to 9.7 million passengers versus nine million passengers a year ago.

However, non-aeronautical segment dipped by 1.6% to RM523mil due to lower non-aeronautical revenue from Turkey operations.

Non-airport operations has declined by 2.1% or RM1.6mil due to lower revenue from hotel and agriculture business.

Overall, Malaysia and Qatar operations saw a 2.6% increase in revenue 6% to RM883.5mil and 3.4% to RM36.8mil respectively. However, Turkey operations’s revenue fell by 2% to RM309.2mil.

MAHB’s profit before tax (PBT) rose by 67.6% to RM154.8mil from RM92.4mil contributed by higher group revenue and other income, and lower overall cost recorded in the current quarter.

The PBT of the Malaysian operations increased by 41.6% to RM189.7mil.Turkey posted loss before tax of RM38.2mil while Qatar operations recorded lower profit before tax by 41.2% to RM3.3mil.

For the nine-months period, its net profit surged 237% to RM699mil from RM207.47mil in the previous coresponding period. Its revenue increased by 5.7% from RM3.40bil.

The higher group PBT was in part due to unrealised gain on the fair value of investment in GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) amounting to RM258.4mil and higher revenue of RM194.8mil.

“Cost has increased slightly by 1.3% to RM3.33bil mainly due to construction cost in relation to the construction of the boarding hall expansion of ISGIA amounting to RM68.1mil.

“The profit before tax for Malaysia operations rose by 83% to RM911.6mil, Qatar operations PBT higher by RM4.5mil to RM13.7mil whilst Turkey operations recorded LBT of RM172.2mi, decreased by RM53.6mil,” it said.

On the prospects, MAHB’s network of airports (including ISGIA) recorded 99.6 million passengers in the current period under review of Jan 1, 2018 to Sept 30, 2018, repre- to RM3.60bil senting a growth of 4.5%.

During the same period, international passengers traffic improved by 6.8% while domestic passengers traffic increased by 2.5%.

Correspondingly, aircraft movements improved by 2.3% with international aircraft movements increased by 6.8% while the domestic aircraft movements declining by 0.5%.

On the outlook for Malaysia operations, passenger traffic at MAHB operated airports registered 2.5% in growth with 73.7 million passengers.

International passengers traffic registered a 5.8% increase to 38.6 million passengers while domestic passenger traffic declined by 0.8% to 35.1 million passengers.

“The higher oil price fluctuation environment may have some impact in the short term but is unlikely to hamper traffic growth in the long run based on past trends.

“Nevertheless, passenger growth remains vulnerable to macroeconomic pressures due to trade restrictions between China and the United States along with lower economic growth for Malaysia,” it said.

MAHB said overseas operations recorded 25.9 million passengers in the current period under review, representing an increase of 10.7%. International passenger traffic increased by 11.5% while domestic passenger traffic increased by 10.3%.

It expected the financial performance for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2018 to be better than the previous year.

Passenger traffic for Malaysia in 2018 is expected to achieve a relatively moderate growth compared to the previous year, with international passenger traffic growth outpacing domestic passenger traffic.

It also forecast the growth momentum in Turkey is expected to hold based on current market conditions.