Fraport Posts Profit In Q3, Lifts FY21 View; Stock Up

Shares of Fraport AG were gaining around 3 percent in the morning trade in Germany after the airport operator on Tuesday reported a third-quarter profit, compared to a loss last year, driven by strong recovery in demand. Citing the positive performance and the optimistic fourth-quarter forecast, the company lifted its fiscal 2021 earnings and revenue view.

The company added that forecasts for the upcoming winter season are a bit more optimistic than that of a few months ago.

Further, the company maintained its medium-term traffic outlook, expecting passenger traffic for Frankfurt Airport or FRA, Fraport’s home-base hub, to reach the pre-crisis level by 2026, or by 2025 at the earliest. Traffic at Fraport’s Group airports worldwide is forecast to recover at a faster pace, rebounding to pre-crisis levels on average by 2023.

Fraport CEO Stefan Schulte said, “Following the massive losses experienced in 2020 and the resulting sharp rise in debt, we are now seeing brighter prospects ahead. Demand for holiday travel during the summer months was relatively strong. Moreover, our result has improved due to financial compensation received for pandemic-related losses incurred at various Group airports. Now, we are also expecting intercontinental traffic to gradually recover – supported by the recent re-opening of the U.S. Borders.”

Looking ahead for fiscal 2021, net profit is now expected to be in positive territory, while previous view was slightly negative to slightly positive.

Group EBIT is now expected to reach a range from around 200 million euros to just over 250 million euros, while previously EBIT was only generally expected to be in positive territory.

Group EBITDA is now forecast to range from approximately 650 million euros to just over 700 million euros, while the previous outlook was between about 460 million euros to 610 million euros.

Revenue is now expected to reach just over 2 billion euros, compared to previous outlook of around 2 billion euros.

In view of the ongoing traffic recovery, Fraport now expects FRA’s passenger traffic for 2021 to reach the upper area of the forecast range, between under 20 million to 25 million passengers.

Further, the company said its Executive Board will continue to propose that no dividend be paid out for the current financial year.

For the third quarter, Group net profit was 102.6 million euros, compared to last year’s loss of 305.8 million euros.

EBITDA was 288.6 million euros in the third quarter, compared to negative 250.3 million euros a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA growth was 785.6 percent to 258.6 million euros from last year’s 29.2 million euros.

Revenue soared 79.5 percent to 633.8 million euros from 353.1 million euros in the same quarter in 2020, driven by a noticeable recovery in holiday travel during the summer season.

In the nine months, FRA welcomed a total of about 15.8 million passengers, a 2.2 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2020. When compared to the 2019 pre-crisis year, passenger numbers dropped 70.8 percent.

In Germany, Fraport shares were trading at 69.06 euros, up 3.3 percent.

Source: Read Full Article