Business activity and financial results for the nine months ending September
Airport operator Aena reports a net profit of 1.139 billion euros for the first nine months of the year, helped by extraordinary financial circumstances. This figure is up 71.3% from the same period in 2022, when profits stood at 664.7 million euros, and matches a level similar to 2019, when net profit reached 1.114 billion euros. The company disclosed these results to the National Securities Market Commission on Thursday.
Total consolidated revenues rose by 19.9% year over year, reaching 3.7791 billion euros. Revenue from core operations surpassed pre-pandemic levels by 15.6%, signaling a strong recovery in activity.
From January through September, Aena posted EBITDA of 2.1136 billion euros, yielding a margin of 55.9%. This marks a 38.8% increase over the 1.5222 billion euros achieved in the same period last year, though it remains just below the 2019 level of 2.1367 billion euros.
Looking ahead, Aena expects to finish 2023 with consolidated EBITDA above 2.7 billion euros and an EBITDA margin exceeding 56%.
Group traffic, including airports in Spain, London Luton, and Northeast Brazil, reached 240 million passengers for the year to September, up 17.4% from the first nine months of 2022. This reflects a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels and a slight net improvement in traffic trends.
Traffic at Aena’s Spanish airports reached 216.6 million passengers in the first nine months, a 17.6% year-over-year rise, and representing 101.3% of the 2019 nine-month traffic total. The company projects about 280 million passengers in Spain for 2023, which would represent a recovery of roughly 102% of 2019 traffic within the expected band of 94%–104% for the year.
Business activity surpasses 2019 levels
Total consolidated revenues for January to September 2023 reached 3.7791 billion euros, a 19.9% rise from the previous year. Aviation revenues stood at 2.114 billion euros, up 16.2% from 2022, while commercial revenue exceeded 2019 levels by 23.7% to 1.1346 billion euros. Overall, sales from business activities surpassed 2019 levels by 15.6%, while invoiced and collected fixed and variable revenues for 2019 rose by 21.4%.
Regulated business has slowed partly because airport charges could not fully offset sharp increases in the costs of providing airport services since 2022, according to the company’s executive remarks.
The group’s net financial debt stood at 6.3648 billion euros at the end of September, up from 6.2429 billion euros at the end of 2022. The debt ratio to EBITDA improved from around 3.0x to about 2.38x as of December 31, 2022.
Solid cash generation continued during the nine months, with net cash from operating activities totaling 1.9042 billion euros, up from 1.5583 billion euros in the prior year period.
Investments during January to September 2023 amounted to 1.2033 billion euros. Expenditures focused on improving facilities and safety at airports, including 611.9 million euros related to mandatory payments linked to the concession of the Eleven Airports Block in Brazil.
Operating expenses, including materials and personnel, totaled 1.6465 billion euros in the first nine months of 2023, versus 1.5665 billion euros in the prior-year period. This rise reflects higher activity levels across terminal operations and open airport areas, as noted by Aena.
Notable is the reduction in electricity costs in Spain by 113.5 million euros (51.5% lower than the first nine months of 2022). Excluding energy effects, the year-over-year increase in other operating expenses for the Spanish airport network was 83.8 million euros, or 12.3%, against the period January to September 2022 amid broader airport activity.
The three Brazilian airports
Aena, via its subsidiary Aena Desarrollo Internacional, currently operates three of the 11 airports within the new BOAB group in Brazil. The airports are Congonhas-Sao Paulo, Campo Grande, and Uberlândia. Aena won BOAB in the public auction held in August 2022, with the group’s 11 airports located in four states and a concession period of 30 years, with potential for an extension of five more years.
This flagship international operation marks the largest ever for Aena, complementing the six additional airports in northeast Brazil it has managed since 2020 under the Aena Brasil brand.