MIA revises passenger traffic growth projection to 6%

Malta International Airport has announced an increase in profit despite a drop in passenger and aircraft numbers last year. It has also revised its passenger growth forecast for this year to 6% after initially predicting growth of 3%.

The company said its pre-tax profit grew by 3.3% to €14.1 million despite a 6.1% decline in passenger numbers in 2009.

In a statement to the stock exchange, MIA said 2009 had been a difficult year as a result of the international economic situation. Because of the drop in traffic, the company's turnover dropped by €1.3 million. However, the comprehensive income of the company increased from €45.11 million to €46.45 million. While there was a drop of 2.3% in aviation revenue, there was an increase of 20% on non-aviation revenue.

"This has been achieved only because of the decisions taken in previous years to invest in the commercial areas of the business and to upgrade both the airside and the landside areas with new facilities for the benefit of the traveler as well as to the non-travelling public," MIA said. It felt it should continue to explore further investment opportunities to reduce its dependence on aviation-related activities.

The company said that over the year, staff costs were increased only marginally, while operating costs were up 5%.

In announcing its upward revision of its traffic projection to a growth of 6% from the original forecast of 3%, MIA cautioned that these predictions should be viewed with extreme caution as the market was still extremely volatile and accurate estimates were difficult.

It said it expected tour operator traffic to continue to decline while low cost carrier traffic would continue to increase.

As for its costs, the company said the recent increase in utility rates would raise its utilities bill by €1 million more than in 2009. It also plans to spend more on promotion for Malta and to attract new airlines to Malta.

The directors have proposed a gross dividend of €0.08769 (net €0.057) per share, which, together with the interim dividend already paid, would bring the total dividend for 2009 to €0.18 (net €0.117).