Improved earnings driven by higher passengers, improvement in cost efficiency, reduction in utilisation fees and better share of results from associates and joint ventures
SEPANG – The Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad Group (the Group) today reported its financial results for the financial year ended 31 December 2022 (FY22), reporting revenue of RM3.13 billion, 86.9% higher compared to the revenue for the same period last year (FY21). The Group’s Earnings Before Interest Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) rose to RM1,186.3 million from RM220.3 million a year ago, driven by passenger traffic that more than doubled compared to FY21 and recovered by 59.4% against pre-pandemic levels.
The Group’s Malaysia operations saw 52.7 million passenger movements in FY22, an almost five-fold increase from FY21, with overall recovery against pre-pandemic of 50.0%. Its Turkey operations saw 31.2 million passenger movements, an increase of 23.0% from FY21, mainly driven by a 10.4% growth in its international passenger movements. The robust recovery seen in both Malaysia and Turkiye is underpinned by the easing of global travel and health restrictions, improved passenger confidence to travel, as well as resumption of airlines operations via capacity restoration and addition of new routes.
The Group continued to be prudent in managing its costs, recording only a moderate increase in operational costs, mainly to meet operational requirements in tandem with the increase in passenger traffic. The Group also saw a reduction in utilisation fees in its Turkiye operations as well as improved contribution from its associates and joint ventures that both positively impacted the bottom line.
As a result, the Group reported a net profit of RM187.2 million in FY22, a swing from the RM766.4 net loss it reported in FY21. In line with its dividend payout policy, the Group concurrently declared a final dividend of 3.91 sen per share.
Group Managing Director Dato' Iskandar Mizal Mahmood is cautiously optimistic on the Group's future performance, "After a tumultuous period of uncertainty and challenges, passenger traffic is steadily improving and recovering closer to pre-pandemic levels. We are now working towards finalising and signing the new Operating Agreements with the Government after receiving the Cabinet’s approval on the principal terms in early February, which will catalyse our development plans and chart our future growth. While we actively continue to seek revenue generation opportunities, we will also continue to be prudent in managing our costs to strengthen our financial position.”
The Group also received approval-in-principle for its Subang Airport Regeneration Plan from the Cabinet in early February, which will position the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport or the Subang Airport to become a leading City Airport and Business Aviation Hub in Asia Pacific. The regeneration plan, centered on 3 segments namely Aerospace Ecosystem, Business Aviation and City Airport, will see the transformation of the Subang Airport into an integrated mixed development of a smart city airport together with terminal-linked commercial and high value aerospace industries.