Positive first Half Year 2011 with strong growth in traffic and increased outlook
Flughafen Zürich AG concluded its first Half Year 2011 with a strong result. With 73.5 million Swiss Francs, Net Profit for the first half year of 2011 rose by 47.9 percent compared to the first half year of 2010. The number of passenger grew by 9.0 percent while movements saw an increase of 7.1 percent. With 438.3 million Swiss Francs, revenues were 7.4 percent higher than in the first half year of 2010. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached 225.6 million Swiss Francs, which marks an increase of 15.7 percent compared to last year’s period. EBITDA margin stood at 51.5 percent. In April 2010, air traffic had to be cancelled for several days due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland. This led to a loss in revenue of around 7 million Swiss Francs.
Traffic Development
A total of 11.5 million passenger used Zurich Airport from January to June 2011 (plus 9.0 percent). This strong growth is due to the volcanic eruption in April 2010, which caused the cancellation of around 3’000 flights and a subsequent reduction in passenger numbers. The number of local passengers increased by 10.1 percent and the number of transfer passengers by 7.0 percent compared to last years’ period. Transfer share was at 34.4 percent in the first semester of 2011.
Air Traffic Movements increased by 7.1 percent to 138’085 in the first half of 2011. The average seat load factor was at 70.6 percent (70.5 percent in the first half year of 2010) while the average passenger per movement number increased by 2.0 percent to 98.3.
Turnover
The Turnover increased from 408.1 million Swiss Francs to 438.3 million Swiss Francs (plus 7.4 percent). Revenue in the aviation segment increased by 10.9 percent to 274.7 million Swiss Francs. The figures directly reflect the strong passenger growth. Revenue in the non-aviation segment rose by 2.0 percent to 163.6 million Swiss Franc.
Currency Strength
Flughafen Zürich AG is only marginally exposed to revenue and costs in foreign currencies. However, the strong Swiss Franc does have indirect effects on the results of Flughafen Zürich AG. On one hand, the Swiss benefit from cheaper vacations abroad. This results in more local passengers at Zurich Airport and positively impacts revenues in the aviation segment. On the other hand, shopping abroad is less expensive compared to a few weeks or months ago. Airside – where only passengers shop, wine and dine – commercial revenue has seen a decrease of 2.2 percent compared to last year’s period. This is partially due to the strong Swiss Franc respectively the weak foreign currencies.
Key Figures and Financial Result
Operating Expenses saw a slight decrease of 0.2 percent from 213.1 million Swiss Francs to 212.7 million Swiss Francs despite strong traffic growth. EBITDA increased by 30 million Swiss Francs from 195 million Swiss Francs to 225.6 million Swiss Francs. With 51.5 percent, this half year’s EBITDA margin stood significantly above last year’s period figure of 47.8 percent.
Outlook
Flughafen Zürich AG expects the passenger volume to increase by 5 to 6 percent for the whole year of 2011. Considering this forecast, Flughafen Zürich AG accordingly expects net profit to grow by 15 to 20 percent.
An important date for Zurich Airport is November 27, 2011. Eligible voters of the Canton of Zurich will vote on the “No new or expanded runways”-initiative (“Behördeninitiative II”) and its counterproposal. Both, initiative and counterproposal call for a ban on new or expanded runways. The counterproposal goes even further by additionally proposing a ban on new high-speed exit taxiways. A vote for either initiative or counterproposal would restrict Zurich Airport as an economic driver and also impede noise-reducing flight regimes in the future. Therefore, those who want to say “Yes” to Zurich Airport should vote for “No” on both, initiative and counterproposal on November 27, 2011.