British airports operator BAA has reported a 6.4% fall in annual pre-tax profits as it felt the effects of a downturn in global passenger numbers, although it predicted a recovery in performance later this year.
The company, which owns seven British airports, including London's Heathrow, said its pre-tax profit before exceptional items fell to £512 million sterling for the year to the end of March 31, down from a restated £547 million the year before.
BAA, which revealed that the number of passengers passing through its airports had declined by 2.2% to 121.9 million, attributed the decline to the global economic slowdown, the impact of the foot and mouth epidemic in Britain, and the September 11 attacks in the US.
BAA's chief executive, Mike Hodgkinson, said September 11 represented a major setback for the industry world-wide but added that BAA had 'risen to the challenge'.
'We expect the first half of 2002-2003 to be slow but we expect strong traffic growth in the second half of the year,' Hodgkinson added in a statement. 'Despite the short-term decline in passenger traffic, we remain confident that long-term growth in the demand for air travel will continue,' he added.
The company said that before exceptional items it had made a pre-tax profit of £505 million, down 7.7% on the year. The results were broadly in line with market expectations.
