Aer Rianta has confirmed group profits, after tax and exceptional items, of €20.2m for the year ending December, 2003. This was a fall of 44% on the previous year. Group turnover rose by 3.8% during 2003 to €437m.
Aer Rianta said it will pay a dividend of €6.1m to the Government. This will bring the combined dividend payment to the Exchequer over the past two years to €13.3m.
The company also revealed today that it is likely to take a decision next week to write off €7m already invested in extra facilities at the airport known as Pier D. It's understood the project won't now go ahead which could lead to problems with capacity at the airport in the near future.
The airport authority said that passenger numbers continued to grow strongly last year across its three airports - Dublin, Cork and Shannon - rising by 5.8% to just under 20.5 million.
Aer Rianta said that despite this above average growth by international standards, its profitability was impacted by a number of key factors, including a reduction in airport charges per passenger and the impact of a more difficult trading environment at some of its overseas airports and its Great Southern Hotels subsidiary.
The Great Southern Hotel division reported profits of €2.85m, down from €3.9m the previous year. The profit figure includes an exceptional item of €3.85m before tax, arising from the sale of the former Torc Great Southern Hotel in Killarney.
On the operational front, Aer Rianta said that last year saw a further record-breaking performance at Dublin Airport. Passenger numbers rose by 5.8% to 15.9 million while 33 new routes and services were launched from the Airport.
Aer Rianta said that this very positive trend is continuing into 2004. Passenger numbers have grown by 11% in the first five months of the year while over 20 new routes and services are scheduled to begin during the first half of the year.
Passenger numbers at Shannon rose by 2% to 2.4 million last year, equalling the record performance achieved in 2001. The Airport also achieved a significant milestone in that, for the first time, over two million people either started or ended their journey at Shannon.
At Cork Airport, new airline services to the UK and to Continental Europe boosted passenger numbers by 16% to a record 2.2 million.
Aer Rianta said that the prospects for the current year are looking very strong with passenger numbers more than 10% higher across the three airports compared to the same period last year.
'At this stage it looks as though passenger numbers at Dublin Airport alone could rise to close on 17 million during 2004, underpinning once again, the need for significant investment in infrastructure at the Airport and the adoption of a more appropriate pricing regime to fund this investment adequately,' it said in its results statement.
