By Amir Orusov and Emanuele Berro
(Reuters) -Fraport topped market expectations for third-quarter core earnings on Tuesday, sending its shares rising 12%, even as it trimmed the 2025 estimate for passenger numbers at Frankfurt Airport.
The airport operator’s positive results follow earnings beats from European peers APD in France and Aena in Spain.
Fraport’s quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation were 593.1 million euros ($691.7 million), well above analysts’ consensus of 533 million euros, as cited by Jefferies ahead of the report.
That was supported by a 50-million-euro reduction in personnel costs due to a one-off refund of contributions under its pension plan.
Fraport said it expected 63 million passengers to fly via Frankfurt in 2025, down by 1 million compared to the previous forecast.
It confirmed financial targets for the year, including for a stable net result at the most.
“We now believe there is a good chance the company will exceed this guidance,” mwb Research analyst Oliver Wojahn said.
The company also expects to pay dividends for the 2025 financial year, which would be its first payout since 2019, CEO Stefan Schulte said.
He said Fraport was likely to meet the requirements it had previously set for approving dividend payments, including the end of cash outflows from investments into its airports around the world.
REGULATORY COSTS HAMPER TRAFFIC RECOVERY
Passenger numbers at Frankfurt Airport, Germany’s busiest international hub, remained significantly below pre-COVID levels, reaching 87.8% of the volumes seen in the first nine months of 2019, Fraport said.
It cited “excessively high” regulatory costs, aviation security and air traffic control charges for this underperformance.
In contrast, passenger numbers for the whole group returned to pre-pandemic levels for the first time, with airports it operates in Greece, Peru and Antalya, Turkey well above 2019 volumes, it said.
The company is increasingly relying on airports outside of Germany for revenue due to weak passenger numbers at domestic airports.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Amir Orusov and Emanuele Berro in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
