BAA losses up 51 percent
28.10.09
BAA has reported increased losses after the sale of Gatwick and on the back of falling passenger numbers. The UK airport operator announced a pre-tax loss of £784.7m for the first 9 months of the year, up 51 percent on its £519m loss a year ago. Passenger numbers were down 2.3 percent at Heathrow, 7.2 percent at Gatwick and 12 percent at Stansted during the period.
BAA lost £225m on the sale of Gatwick, which it said last week it had agreed to sell to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), the owners of London City Airport, for £1.51bn. The deal is subject to EU competition clearance and is scheduled for completion in December.
Colin Matthews, BAA chief executive officer, said: ‘The accounting losses we are reporting today reflect non-cash exceptional charges and do not reflect the strong underlying performance of the business. We have delivered a good performance in line with expectations for the first 9 months of the year, helped by Heathrow's continued resilience, higher retail spending by passengers and tight cost control.'
'Our London airports are strongly cash generative and our debt and underlying interest costs are stable. We are pleased to have agreed the sale of Gatwick Airport and our focus for the rest of the year is on improving efficiency and service standards for our customers, and further reducing costs.’
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