Ann: HALFYR: AIA: AIAL interim result reflects pl

• Release Date: 20/02/14 11:15
• Summary: HALFYR: AIA: AIAL interim result reflects plan in action
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					AIA
20/02/2014 09:15
HALFYR

REL: 0915 HRS Auckland International Airport Limited

HALFYR: AIA: AIAL interim result reflects plan in action

Media Release l 20 February 2014

Auckland Airport's interim result reflects plan in action - underlying profit
up 13.9% to $86.7 million
Auckland Airport has today announced its interim results for the six months
to 31 December 2013.
Total profit after tax was up 11.7% to $85.9 million, while underlying profit
after tax increased by 13.9% to $86.7 million.
Revenue increased by 6.7% to $238.5 million and expenses increased by 6% to
$60.6 million. Earnings before interest expense, taxation, depreciation, fair
value adjustments and investments in associates (EBITDAFI) increased by 6.9%
to $177.9 million. Passenger movements were up 4.8% to 7.6 million for the
six-month period. Total share of profit from associates - North Queensland
Airports, Queenstown Airport and the Novotel hotel - totalled $4.9 million,
an increase of 11.5% on the corresponding period.
Sir Henry van der Heyden, Auckland Airport's chair, says, "The company is
pleased to record an interim result which has exceeded expectations and
builds on our recent strong performance. We have delivered solid financial
returns for investors in the first six months of this financial year and the
implementation of our strategic business plan Faster, Higher, Stronger, is
progressing well."
"We have renewed our focus on becoming a southern hub airport for the Pacific
Rim, and our focus on growing travel markets has resulted in new routes and
additional seat capacity. Our commitment to invest for future growth has been
underpinned by ongoing work to complete the draft 30-year vision for the
'airport of the future'.  Likewise, the Board's decision to seek High Court
and shareholder approval to return $454 million of capital to shareholders is
targeted at ensuring that we remain fast, efficient and effective. Finally,
we have successfully transitioned to a new chair of the board of directors
following the 2013 Annual Meeting and completed the chief executive's
restructure of the leadership team."
Sir Henry says the key revenue highlight is strong underlying aeronautical
income, driven by higher international and domestic passenger volumes and
also underpinning positive growth in car parking revenue.  Our ongoing
investment in our property transformation programme has delivered a solid
increase in property rental income. The increase in expenses remains lower
than revenue growth, resulting in the EBITDAFI increase. Interest costs were
lower in the first six months of this financial year. With the improvement in
profit levels the company has continued to strengthen its ability to fund the
business, reinforcing our capacity to return capital to shareholders.
"At the beginning of the 2014 financial year, we outlined our expectation
that the net profit after tax (excluding any fair value changes and other
one-off items) would be between $160 million and $170 million. Auckland
Airport is lifting its guidance for the full year to be between $166 million
to $172 million."
"This guidance is subject to any material adverse events, significant one-off
expenses, non-cash fair value changes to property and deterioration due to
global market conditions or other unforeseeable circumstances," says Sir
Henry.
Ends

For further information please contact:
Simon Lambourne
+64 9 255 9089
+64 27 477 6120
[email protected]

Note for media:
Directors and management of Auckland Airport understand the importance of
reported profits meeting accounting standards. Because we comply with
accounting standards, users can confidently know that comparisons can be made
between different companies and that there is integrity in the reporting
approach of an entity. However, we also believe that an underlying profit
measurement can assist readers to understand what is happening in a business
such as Auckland Airport where revaluation changes can distort financial
results or where one-off transactions (both positive and negative) can make
it difficult to compare profits between years.
For several years, Auckland Airport has referred to underlying profits
alongside reported results. We do so when we report our results but also when
we give our market guidance (where we exclude fair value changes and other
one-off items) or when we consider dividends (our dividend policy is to pay
100% of net profit after tax, excluding unrealised gains and losses arising
from a revaluation of property or treasury instruments and other one-off
items). However, in doing so, we also acknowledge our obligation to show
users how we have derived our underlying result.
The table below shows how we reconcile reported profit after tax and
underlying profit after tax for the six months ending 31 December 2013.

[Please see pdf attached for this table]

We have made the following adjustments to show underlying profit after tax
for the six months ended 31 December 2013 and 31 December 2012:
o We have adjusted for Auckland Airport's share of the fair value movement in
the derivative financial instruments of associates that do not qualify for
hedge accounting for the six-month period ended 31 December 2013 and 31
December 2012.
o We have also adjusted for the fair value movements of derivative financial
instruments in Auckland Airport that either do not qualify for hedge
accounting or hedge accounting ineffectiveness that relate to the
counterparty risk of the particular derivatives entered into by the company.
These gains/(losses) are unrealised and are expected to reverse out over the
lives of the derivatives.

o We also allow for the taxation impacts of the above adjustments for both
the six-month periods ended 31 December 2013 and 31 December 2012.

Ends
End CA:00247243 For:AIA    Type:HALFYR     Time:2014-02-20 09:15:03