Manchester Airports Group reported another strong performance for the full year ending March 2014

MANCHESTER, 2014-7-22 — /Travel PR News/ — Manchester Airports Group (MAG), the owner and operator of the airports of Manchester, London Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth, has reported another strong performance for the full year ending March 2014.

Terminal transformation projects continue at London Stansted and East Midlands, while Manchester’s passenger growth sees it retain the third largest position of UK airports. This year’s annual report, also includes London Stansted’s results included over a full 12 month period.

Highlights

• Revenue grew by £33.0m (8.4%), up to £426.1m (excl London Stansted), including London Stansted revenue is £671.2m
• For 2014 financial year, London Stansted contributed 18m passengers, £245.1m revenue and £88.9m EBITDA
• Passenger numbers grew by 1.3m (5.4%) (excl London Stansted) – outperforming the market
• Operating profit (before significant items) for 2014 is £83.9m – up £8.6m (11.4%) on prior year and ahead of expectations (excl London Stansted)
• Cash flow from operations increased to £240.7m compared to £148.6m for 2013
• Annual dividend of £46m up £4m from 2013
• EBITDA (excl London Stansted) is £153m, up 9.6%, with London Stansted it is £241.9m

Neil Thompson, Chief Financial Officer for MAG, said: “The Group has delivered another strong year of financial performance, exceeding its financial targets and delivering continued growth. We’ve secured an increase of 4.3% in passenger volumes, and through continued focus on commercial drivers and operational efficiencies, have delivered increased earnings of £242m for the year.

“With the Group delivering growth and exceeding its targets for the year, I’m pleased to announce an increase in the underlying dividend to our shareholders by another 10%, to £46m, which combined with the increase last year, represents a 50% increase in dividends over the last two years.

“The announcement of the first direct link between Manchester and China was significant and we have continued to perform well adding long-haul routes such as Charlotte, Jeddah, and Toronto at Manchester for this Summer. While there has also been an extension of European and short-haul connectivity with important route announcements from the likes of Ryanair, EasyJet, Thomson Airways, Thomas Cook and Monarch at our airports.”

Business Performance

MAG has delivered another strong passenger performance, performing well against the market. In particular, at Manchester Airport, 2013/14 has seen destination and passenger numbers match figures not seen since 2008, proving the potential and capability of the UK’s third biggest airport. Group-wide MAG has witnessed significant successes, and since acquiring London Stansted, the Group has achieved the majority of its critical objectives ahead of schedule and on budget.

Significant investment across the business has taken place with capital expenditure for 2013/4 totalling £135.46m. This has included terminal transformations and redevelopments at East Midlands and London Stansted, plus re-development of the station at Manchester to bring the Metrolink tramway out to the airport by the end of the year.

Corporate Progress

The £800m Airport City project at Manchester continues to progress. In October 2013, George Osborne announced the joint venture partners for the project and the first occupier, DHL, was announced not long after in November.

As part of the £80m terminal transformation at London Stansted, its retail and food & beverage offering has been overhauled, to create a contemporary, convenient, innovative and stylish experience for passengers. This takes MAG a step closer to its goal of becoming the premier airport services and management business.

Neil Thompson added: “The initial integration of Stansted into MAG has been successfully completed and the wide-ranging development and investment into the airport is well underway. The significant activity at Stansted and across MAG this year will generate continued strong performance and growth in 2014-15 and beyond.

Outlook

The Group will continue its growth ambitions as we move further forward into the current financial year. A major aspiration will be to attract more of the 50m people who live within a two-hour drive-time of an MAG airport, to increase upon the company’s current customer base of 43.8m annual passengers.

Campaigns such as ‘Fly Manchester’ and ‘Fly Stansted’have continued to attract and target leakage from across the catchment areas. This will ensure and reinforce messages that passengers have a wealth of destination choice nearby at their local airport.

Neil Thompson commented: “The investment being made in our airport infrastructure, combined with the considerable existing spare capacity, mean that over the short term, medium and long term we expect Stansted and Manchester will continue to play a key role in delivering UK aviation growth.”

The significance of Manchester Airport securing the only direct, non-stop service to China outside of London from December, showcases MAG’s ongoing commitment in the UK air debate and the company’s intentions on best use of capacity in the short term. It is positive to see long-haul carriers seeing the potential of MAG’s airports and the company hopes to be able to announce other significant long haul routes in the coming months.

ENDS

For more information, contact the MAG Press Office on 0161 489 2700 or email press.office@magairports.com

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