Bruce Barnard, Special Correspondent | Oct 29, 2012 11:03AM EDT
Heathrow Ltd., the former BAA, increased profit by 9.6 percent in the first nine months of the year as slightly higher traffic at Europe’s biggest airport, driven by a strong North Atlantic performance, helped boost retail income.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, grew to £922.9 million ($1.48 billion) from $1.35 billion in the first three quarters of 2011.
Revenue was 8.2 percent higher at $2.95 billion against $2.72 billion in the year-earlier period.
Heathrow’s passenger traffic grew 0.6 percent to just short of 53 million while cargo volume was down 1.6 percent at 973,956 metric tons, pushing the airport to fourth in the European freight rankings behind Amsterdam Schiphol.
Traffic at London Stansted fell 4.6 percent to 13.5 million but freight was 3.2 percent higher at 140,385 tons.
Heathrow airport will account for more than 95 percent of revenue after once the sale of London Stansted, ordered by the U.K. competition regulators, is completed, the company said.
Heathrow Ltd., which is owned by Spanish construction group Ferrovial, said, is it on track to invest more than $1.6 billion by the end of 2012.
The company also owns Southampton, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports.