KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) net profit increased to RM543.17 million in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023) from RM187.20 million in FY2022 on the back of higher revenue.
The improvement in earnings was also attributed to an increase in other income and share of profit from associates and joint ventures, coupled with a higher gain on fair value of investment in GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd recorded in the year under review.
Revenue surged 57.2% to RM4.91 billion in FY2023 from RM3.13 billion previously, in tandem with the increase in passenger movements.
“Revenue from airport operations increased by 60.6% to RM4.60 billion while the aeronautical segment revenue saw an increase to RM2.70 billion.
“This growth was primarily driven by the recovery of passenger traffic, which surged from 83.9 million to 119.5 million passengers,” it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
MAHB said Malaysia operations experienced a significant improvement in passenger traffic, reaching 81.9 million passengers compared to 52.7 million passengers in the prior year.
Meanwhile, Türkiye operations continued to show a recovery in passenger traffic, increasing from 31.2 million to 37.6 million passengers during the same period.
“The non-aeronautical segment revenue also witnessed growth, increasing to RM1.89 billion, primarily due to better contribution of commercial revenue from both Malaysia and Türkiye operations,” it said.
MAHB declared a final dividend of 10.8 sen per share for FY2023.
For the fourth quarter under review (4Q FY2023), MAHB’s net profit fell to RM287.70 million from RM359.14 million due to the reduction in utilisation fees.
However, revenue for 4Q FY2023 increased by 36.8% to RM1.37 billion from RM1 billion previously, driven by higher passenger volumes resulting from the airline’s route expansion, resumption of Northern Asia flights and the launch of new airlines operations in the current quarter.
Going forward, MAHB said its prospects remain favourable, supported by passenger traffic growth and further strengthened by the group’s ongoing strategy in enhancing its airline and hub connectivity, rejuvenating commercial and retail spaces, as well as accelerating off-terminal opportunities.
Acting group chief executive officer Mohamed Rastam Shahrom said MAHB continues to be encouraged by the buoyant demand for air travel, with the latest airlines seat capacity filing for 2024 showing a 13% increase over 2023. – February 29, 2024