Britain's airports operator BAA has said first-half losses at its London division trebled to nearly £550m, but it remained on track to repay all debt due next year.
The company, majority owned by Spain's Ferrovial, said higher losses across Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted were due to various exceptional items such as increases to its pension deficit and the depreciation in value of older terminals at Heathrow.
It said its attempts to sell Gatwick, which have slowed to a standstill nearly a year after Britain's second busiest airport was first put on the market, were continuing.
BAA added that its massive debt-pile of £9.7 billion at the end of June was manageable - with or without the sale of Gatwick - and that its outlook was unchanged.
Adjusted to exclude exceptional items, the company posted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of £469.9m in the six months to end June, up from £366.6m last year. Passenger numbers across the airports are down 7.4% year-on-year.
