Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), owner of South Africa’s nine principal airports with additional operations in Brazil and India, has reported an 8.9% increase in revenue in the year ended March 31, 2015.
“I am proud of the performance and progress achieved in the past financial year. Driven by a passionate workforce, ACSA is steadily achieving its vision of being a world leading airports business by focusing on the customer. Despite a volatile global and challenging local economy, ACSA has shown good financial performance,” chief executive Bongani Maseko said.
The group continued to produce strong results in the year ended March 31, 2015, achieving after tax profits of R1.6 billion, an 8.5% decline from R1.7 billion in 2014. “We continue to ensure both the funding and cost of borrowing are well managed. The resulting decrease in financing costs and debt levels has allowed us to continue to deliver on all investor commitments,” Maseko said.
“Profitability was driven mainly by strong aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenue performance along with an increase in the fair values of our investment properties. Weak growth in the South African economy was expected to place a strain on passenger numbers.
“Despite this, the group experienced a 2.4% increase in departing passenger numbers from 17.4 million in 2014, to 17.8 million in the current year. This increased both aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenue performance,” he said.
Total assets remained stable at R27.4 billion, compared to R27.9 billion in 2014. Cash generated by operations increased by 4.1% to R4.6 billion, up from R4.4 billion in 2014. The company continued to minimise its cost of borrowings through early debt redemptions where possible, reducing its debt burden by a full R1.9 billion during the period in review.
ACSA continues to seek enhancement of shareholder value by increasing profitability, ensuring funding and the cost of borrowing are well managed while preserving liquidity levels, added Maseko.
He believes the company will continue to identify and secure new business opportunities. It would achieve this by providing commercially viable airport management solutions for South African and international airports.
Among other initiatives Maseko indicated that in the next three years ACSA plans to develop a model to secure new business in Africa and other emerging markets, accelerate the company’s sustainability and transformation programme, rolling out an information technology strategy and engage with industry players and legislators on the company’s regulatory and funding framework.
