Airport News
Queenstown Airport announces Full Year Results Ending June 30, 2011
- First Dividend payment to shareholders of $3.28M
- Uplift in profit
- Strong outlook for the full 2012 year
The Board of Queenstown Airport is pleased to announce that it will pay its shareholders a dividend of $3.28M for the year to 30 June 2011.
75.1% shareholder Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) will receive $2.46M and Auckland International Airport Limited will receive $821K in line with its 24.9% shareholding.
The key drivers in the strong financial performance of Queenstown Airport were record passenger numbers, an increase in aircraft movements and strong revenues from commercial activities including retail concessions and car parking.
Operating revenue increased 17% to $15.6M and the 2011 EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was $9.9M, a 31.1% increase over 2010 EBITDA of $7.54M.
“The Airport’s financial performance, combined with last year’s restructuring of the balance sheet by raising $27.7M of new capital, has placed Queenstown Airport in a position to return for the first time a dividend to its shareholders,” said Mr Murray Valentine, Interim Chairman, Queenstown Airport Corporation.
This year’s NPAT (net profit after tax) of $4.58M represents a lift of 22.1% over normalised NPAT of $3.75M in 2010.
“The Airport saw a record 924,248 scheduled passengers travel – up 14% on the previous year. International passengers were up 50% at 161,089, while domestic passengers rose 8.5% with 767,159 passengers moving through the Airport,“ said Mr Valentine.
Commenting further on the results Mr Steve Sanderson, Chief Executive Officer, Queenstown Airport Corporation said that “the continued growth of the Airport had been boosted by increased flight frequency on traditional routes, the introduction of a new route (the Gold Coast), larger aircraft and more people choosing to visit Queenstown by air.
“All our airline customers have worked hard to service Queenstown over the year. Jetstar introduced a new international route and increased its weekly capacity on the Auckland/Queenstown sector by 57%. Qantas introduced new flights and Air New Zealand, our largest customer, continued its support with increased volume with larger aircraft and more flights.”
“We just fell short of reaching our goal of one million passengers. The impact of the Chilean volcanic ash cloud in May and June, which saw up to 50% of certain weekly international flights cancelled, shows the need for the business to be fit financially and operationally.
“Overall though a really good performance with the seat capacity in and out of Queenstown growing by 14% to 1.176M over the last year,” said Mr Sanderson.
Commercial activities including retail, rental car and car parking also contributed to the Airport’s strong financial performance.
Retail spend, in particular in the areas of Food and Beverage and Duty Free, increased and demand from rental car operators remained very positive.
“Queenstown Airport has consolidated its position as the second largest base of New Zealand rental car operations and this activity is going from strength to strength,” said Mr Sanderson.
Indeed by the end of the financial period under review all available retail and rental car tenancies were fully leased.
Commercial transport and car parking revenue, which increased by 16% over the financial period, is closely linked to the increased number of passengers.
“As more people travel through the Airport there is more demand for commercial transport and car parking. We are working hard to meet this demand,” said Mr Sanderson.
The continued growth of the Airport has also accelerated the Master Plan and required the completion of several major strategic projects during the last year.
“The baggage make up area was tripled in size, additional aircraft stands and an apron extension was completed. Both the Runway End Safety Areas have recently been completed ahead of schedule.”
Queenstown Airport continues to grow and the year ahead is very exciting,” said Mr Sanderson.
