INTERNATIONAL/TURKEY. TAV Airports Holding (TAV) announced its results for the first nine months of 2017, reporting a +49% increase in net profit of €163 million and revenue of €854 million. In the third quarter, revenue, EBITDAR and net profit were the highest in TAV’s history.
The global player in airport operations cited a rebound in the aviation market, which has seen slow growth in the past 18 months, and an increase in passenger growth at its airports from destinations in the Middle East, Russia and CIS countries. In total, TAV Airports served 87 million passengers in the first nine months.
TAV Airports Holding Executive Board Member & CEO Sani Sener stated: “2017 has been a year of recovery from an aviation market that has been in downtrend for approximately 18 months. The recovery in our Turkish airports started in the second quarter and picked up full traction in the third quarter. Istanbul Ataturk Airport’s international Origin & Destination (O&D) passenger growth was 6% for the first nine months. Ankara Esenboga Airport enjoyed significant growth in international passengers (+35%), thanks to year-on-year effect of routes that started late 2016. Georgia showed +44% growth in first 9 months, as a result of increased traffic to Russia, former CIS countries, Middle East and Israel. Medinah continued its eye-catching expansion with +20% growth. Macedonia traffic managed a double-digit growth of +12%, as Wizzair based its 4th aircraft at Skopje in July.”
In the first nine months, TAV recorded +5% revenue growth and +12% EBITDAR growth, which outperformed the projections set at the beginning of the year. This has now been set to +1-3% revenue growth for the full year and +6-8% EBITDAR growth, from flat revenue and EBITDAR growth.
TAV has spent €35 million in new investments this year, of which €17 million was spent on Tbilisi Airport capacity expansion. Georgia’s 44% passenger growth for the year confirmed the operator’s decision to invest further.
Over the year, TAV has won the concession to operate three new airports in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Yanbu, Qassim and Hail). It is also currently in negotiations with airports in Cuba.
Duty free operator ATU and food and beverage company BTA, in which TAV has stakes, are also preparing for new projects in different locations the airport operator said. It now has lounges in 15 countries including USA, Chile, Germany, Switzerland and Kenya. The TAV Technologies division has also won IT projects in the Gulf Region.
During the third quarter Groupe ADP bought an 8% stake of Akfen in TAV Airports and international investors purchased a 3.6% stake of TAV Airports from Tepe and Sera, increasing TAV Airports’ free float to 44.3%. The transactions mark reconfirmed confidence in TAV Airports and in Turkey from both Groupe ADP and international investors.
“TAV Airports will be Groupe ADP’s main international expansion vehicle in our core geographies. I would like to thank our shareholders, business partners and employees for their trust and efforts in bringing TAV to where it is today,” added Sener.
TAV is the largest airport operator in Turkey and includes Istanbul Ataturk, Ankara Esenboga, Izmir Adnan Menderes, Gazipasa Alanya and Milas Bodrum Airports in the country. It also operates Tbilisi and Batumi Airports in Georgia, Monastir and Enfidha-Hamammet Airports in Tunisia, Skopje and Ohrid Airports in Macedonia, Medinah Airport in Saudi Arabia and Zagreb Airport in Croatia.
TAV Airports is also active in other areas of airport operations including duty free, food and beverage, ground handling, IT, security and operation services. Within the same context, TAV Airports also operates duty free, food and beverage and other commercial areas at Riga Airport in Latvia. Together with its subsidiaries, the company provided services to 808,000 flights and 104 million passengers in 2016.
