Disposal gain boosts MAHB's Q1 profit by nearly sevenfold

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd's (MAHB) surged nearly seven times to RM444.6 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 compared with RM64.28 million in the same period a year ago, buoyed by unrealised gain on the fair value of investment in India's GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) amounting to RM258.4 million.
Its revenue also increased 11.2% to RM1.22 billion to RM1.09 billion.
In a filing with the stock exchange, MAHB said its airport operations recorded revenue growth of 12.2% to RM1.14 billion, mainly driven by both the aeronautical and non-aeronautical segments.
Underpinned by strong passenger growth, its aeronautical segment grew 11.7% to RM588.4 million over the same corresponding quarter last year. Malaysia operations recorded passenger growth of 3.4% to 24.4 million from 23.6 million passengers.
The passenger traffic for the Turkey operations increased 18.2% to 7.8 million from 6.6 million passengers.
However, MAHB said non-airport operations slightly declined 2.8% or RM2.1 million due to lower revenue from agriculture business resulting from a decrease in fresh fruit bunches (FFB) price and lower project and repair maintenance.
Including Turkey's Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISGIA), MAHB's network of airports recorded 32.2 million passengers in the current quarter under review, representing a growth of 6.6% over the corresponding quarter last year.
In Malaysia, the average load factors for domestic and international sectors remained at a high 72.7% and 77.1% respectively.
Moving forward, MAHB said some moderation in international growth is likely, while a turnaround in the domestic sector for Malaysia operations as foreseen in June 2018.
For ISGIA, it is likely to maintain a double-digit growth momentum for both domestic and international passenger traffic in the immediate term
At 12.30pm, MAHB's share price was unchanged at RM8.30, with some 309,600 shares changing hands.