Auckland International Airport's full year profits fell by 63% after it wrote down the value of its property holdings.
The company says that net profit for the year to 30 June fell to NZ$41.7 million ($28.7 million) after it decreased the value of its property investment portfolio by NZ$64.6 million.
Group revenues rose by 5.2% to NZ$369.2 million during the year. The operator of New Zealand's largest gateway says that its profit after tax rose by 2.1% to NZ$105.9 million if it excluded the property write-down and other one-off costs.
"The operating performance of the company in 2009 was pleasing in a challenging economic environment. Financially, our underlying net profit after tax of $105.9m is within the guidance range forecast last year," says Auckland Airport chairman Tony Frankham.
CEO Simon Moutter adds that the implementation of a growth strategy that the airport announced in March helped it to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of NZ$280.4m, and reduce capital expenditure by NZ$87.5m.
"These reflect our efforts to focus on key markets, work harder with our customers, drive greater yield, and tightly manage ongoing operational and infrastructure costs," says Moutter.
During the year, total passenger movements fell by 1.4% to 13 million and aircraft movements were down 1.8% at 156,781.
Looking ahead, Auckland Airport says that "global travel demand conditions are unstable and passenger volume growth remains uncertain".
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
