On 9 May 2014, LCCT officially closes, a new Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) is built to replace the LCCT with bigger & better facilities. As a result, the info posted on this website is no longer applicable to the new KLIA2. Visit www.klia2.info for latest info on the new klia2 terminal.

MAHB posts lower profit

Saturday October 30, 2010
By B.K. SIDHU

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) reported a lower after-tax profit of RM61mil for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2010 compared with RM83.5mil in the same period a year earlier.

The lower profit was due to the adoption of the FRS139 accounting standard resulting in the higher share of losses in its associate company, Sabiha Gokcen International Airport Ltd.

However, after stripping out the effects of the FRS139, the airport operator posted RM80mil in after-tax profit from RM83.5mil previously. Revenue for the quarter was up by 18% at RM447mil from RM377mil a year ago. No dividend was declared for the quarter.

“Our profitability is affected by the FRS139. Hopefully, the fourth quarter (results) would be good,’’ MAHB chief financial officer Faizal Mansor said at a briefing on the company’s financial results yesterday.

The after-tax profit for the nine months ended Sept 30 was also 18% lower at RM194mil compared with RM237mil. After stripping out the effects of the FRS139, the after-tax profit was 7.2% higher at RM254mil compared with RM237mil previously.

Revenue for the nine months was up 14% to RM1.3bil versus RM1.1bil a year ago. Earnings per share for the period was 5.62 sen from 7.66 sen previously.

The losses recorded by its associated company was RM54mil and for the full year, Faizal said he expected it to be RM80mil. But after stripping the FRS, the losses for the quarter were RM16mil, he said.

MAHB managing director Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad said that after considering the FRS139 impact and other one-off transactions pursuant to its restructuring exercise, the group had performed better operationally as reflected by the higher passenger and revenue numbers.

For the nine months, the airport operator handled a total of 42 million passengers, which is 15% higher than the 36.8 million recorded a year ago at all its 39 airports. KL International Airport handled 24.9 million passengers during the period while the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal handled 11.1 million.

MAHB’s aeronautical revenue grew to RM639mil while the non-aeronautical (aero) revenues stood at RM587mil. The drive ahead is to increase it non-aeronautical (non-aero) revenues as MAHB feels the ideal combination in terms of revenue contribution from aero and non-aero should be 35:65 by 2014 compared with 53:47 currently.

It is beefing up its commercial and retail operations to achieve the higher contribution for the non-aero business. The retail space at KLIA was only 3% when it opened for business but now has been increased to 7%. Similarly, plans are under way to ensure that the new KLIA 2 (new permanent low-cost carrier terminal) will have about 20% of its space for retail business.

MAHB senior general manager of commercial Faizah Khairuddin said even though the commercial and retail business was experiencing double-digit growth, there was a need to push for a bigger share of the customer’s wallet.

“We want customers to spend RM1 more while they are at the airports,” she said, adding that having the right mix of outlets was one way to boost the spending.

Asked on the status of development of the KLIA 2, Faizal said that RM2bil worth of contracts had been dished out thus far. The total development of the KLIA 2 is estimated at RM2.5bil.

He said MAHB expected the new airport to be profitable upon opening. With the move to KLIA 2, the existing LCCT would be leased out to freight forwarders, thus creating another source of revenue for the airport operator, he said.

This article is a verbatim copy of the original article from The Star.

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