Good interim result in 2016
Flughafen Zürich AG reported a profit of CHF 103.8 million for the first half of 2016. Compared with the first half of 2015, which was characterized by one-off effects, this corresponds to an increase of CHF 63.5 million. Adjusted for one-off effects, the result improved by 15.3% compared with the prior-year period. For the major project “The Circle”, the realization of the second stage has been decided
Traffic volumes From January through June 2016, 12.6 million passengers (an increase of 3.4%) used Zurich Airport as their departure, transfer or destination airport. The number of local passengers rose by 6.0% compared with the year-back period, while the number of transfer passengers fell by 3.0%. The share of transfer passengers declined from 28.7% in the first half of 2015 to 26.9%.
The number of flight movements rose by 1.0% to 129,587 take-offs and landings. The seat load factor per flight movement declined from 74.6% to 73.4%. The average number of passengers per flight movement increased from 109.4 to 111.6 passengers. Freight handled at Zurich Airport increased by 1.8% over the prior-year period to a total of 206,215 tons.
Revenues Total revenue rose by 2.6% to CHF 480.7 million compared with the prior-year period. Owing to the strong growth in passenger numbers, aviation revenue increased by 4.7% to CHF 292.2 million. Non-aviation revenue declined slightly to CHF 188.5 million.
Key operating data Operating expenses fell by 23.6% in the first half of 2016 to CHF 214.9 million – this is primarily a result of two one-off effects in the prior-year period. The partial sale of land and the related establishment of the co-ownership structure for "The Circle” had a positive effect while provisions for the expanded sound insulation program amounting to CHF 100 million impacted negatively on the result. Factoring out these one-off effects in the prior year, operating expenses were reduced by CHF 3.9 million, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by CHF 16.1 million to CHF 265.9 million. The EBITDA margin amounts to 55.3%. First-half year profit comes to CHF 103.8 million, which is 15.3% up on the adjusted result for the prior-year period.
"The Circle" Construction of the major project “The Circle” is making good progress in both building and marketing terms. Flughafen Zürich AG therefore has decided together with the co-owner Swiss Life AG to already launch the second stage of the construction work now, so that both stages can be implemented simultaneously. This will result in an extraordinary gain of CHF 7.3 million (before taxes) in the second half of 2016. Outlook The new flight operations charges will be implemented in September 2016. Flughafen Zürich AG expects growth in passenger numbers of around 3.5% for 2016, boosted in particular by the positive trend in local passengers and a slight increase in flight movements. Factoring out the one-off effects and any other extraordinary factors, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) should be in line with the 2015 figure. Compared with the prior-year period, higher depreciation will result in a decline in profit excluding noise-related items.