Johannesburg - Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has reported another sterling financial performance, which puts the airport management company in a good position to finance the R5.2 billion capital expenditure it has planned for the next five years.
The parastatal announced yesterday that it had registered a 30 percent upsurge in operating profit to R977 million for the year to March, and had added more than R1.2 billion to its current assets, which stood at R1.8 billion, up from R541 million a yearearlier.
The company also added R500 million to its cashflow to R1.7 billion, compared with R1.2 billion the previous year.
Brooks Mparutsa, Acsa's financial director, said yesterday that the company planned to accelerate its expansion programme and invest R1.6 billion in infrastructure this financial year, compared with the R1.2 billion it spent in the past year. This follows the board's approval of projects worth R4 billion going forward.
Mparutsa said the company would raise R2 billion from capital markets before the end of the year. Although some of the projects would be funded from its cash flow, Acsa would raise most of the finance required for the expansion programme from the market.
Acsa's managing director, Monhla Hlahla, said the next increase in tariffs would be strongly influenced by the sums it would need to finance the capital projects. The airports management company would apply for permission for a five-year pricing regime to the regulator in September.
Mparutsa said the company was also working on improving its costs of capital, a move that would enable it to borrow more cheaply. He said Acsa was still "undergeared" despite a nearly fivefold rise in its capital gearing from 4.74 percent in the previous financial year to 22.5 percent. He said it had set a target of 52 percent.
The improvement in operating profit was due to growth in the number of passengers and increased commercial and non-aeronautical revenue.
Revenue climbed 12 percent to R2.2 billion. Passenger traffic climbed 11.3 percent to more than 14.8 million people, and commercial revenue rose 13.7 percent to R868 million.
Retail contributed 36 percent to commercial revenue, parking 22 percent, property rentals 20 percent, advertising 11 percent, and car hire 10 percent.
Johannesburg International Airport accounted for two-thirds of Acsa's revenue, while Cape Town added nearly 20 percent. Durban and the seven national airports made up the rest.