KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) recorded a 38.3% increase in net profit at RM86.11mil in the second quarter ended June 30, 2018, boosted by higher revenue and it expects FY18 to be better than the previous year.
MAHB announced on Tuesday its net profit had increased from RM62.26mil a year ago. It declared an interim dividend of five sen a share. Earnings per share were 3.47 sen compared with 2.01 sen.
On the outlook, MAHB expected FY18 to be better as Malaysia’s economic growth was expected to continue its momentum in 2018.
“Combined with moderated airlines seat capacity filings, passenger growth for the next six months is expected to be positive,” it said.
As for Turkey, it said the growth momentum in Turkey was expected to hold based on current market condition.
Commenting on the financial performance in Q2, it said profit before tax (PBT) rose 45.7% to RM125.6mil from RM86.2mil a year ago mainly due to higher group revenue recorded in the current quarter,” it said.
MAHB said cost has increased by 2.2% or RM23.8mil from a year ago due to the construction cost to expand the boarding hall of ISGIA amounting to RM42.3mil.
MAHB said profit before tax of the Malaysian operations increased by 11.5% to RM179.1mil.
Commenting on the Turkey operations, there was a loss before tax (LBT) of RM57.4mil while Qatar operations recorded a profit before tax of RM3.9mil.
As for the revenue in the Q2, it said airport operations' revenue rose by 5.5% to RM1.087bil. Included in the was construction revenue of RM42.3mil from Turkey operations.
However, the aeronautical segment's revenue dipped by 0.5% to RM538.3mil.
Its non-aeronautical segment rose by 3.6% to RM506.8mil, underpinned by stronger sales registered by the concessionaires and retailers.
However, non-airport operations saw a 3.5% decline or RM2.4mil due to lower revenue from project and repair maintenance, hotel and agriculture business.
“Overall, Malaysia operations has recorded a slight decline in revenue by 1.3% to RM820.4mil.
“However, Turkey and Qatar operations recorded revenue growth of 26.8% to RM299.9mil and 7.8% to RM34.4mil respectively,” it said.
In the first half, its net profit surged 319% to RM539.71mil from RM126.54mil. Revenue increased by 8.1% to RM2.37bil from RM2.19bil.
The profit before tax (PBT) of the group has increased to RM598.3mil from RM189.1mil a year ago.
“The higher group PBT was mainly due to unrealised gain on the fair value of investment in GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) amounting to RM258.4mil and higher revenue of RM177.2mil,” it said.