The company says overall cost during the 3 months has reduced by 1.6%, or RM19m, compared to 3Q17

By FARA AISYAH / Pic By TMR

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (3Q18), surged to RM168.49 million from RM80.93 million a year ago, boosted by higher group revenue and other income, as well as lower overall cost.

In an exchange filing yesterday, the company said its overall cost during the three months has reduced by 1.6%, or RM19 million, compared to 3Q17, mainly due to net write-back of provision of doubtful debts and lower amortisation and depreciation cost.

The profit before tax (PBT) and zakat for the Malaysian operations increased by 41.6% to RM189.7 million in the quarter, while Turkey registered a loss before tax of RM38.2 million. For its Qatar operations, the company recorded lower PBT by 41.2% to RM3.3 million.

MAHB’s revenue for 3Q18 slightly increased to RM1.23 billion from RM1.21 billion recorded in its July to August 2017 period.

The airport operations recorded revenue growth of 1.7% to RM1.16 billion in the quarter, while the aeronautical segment’s revenue has increased by 4.5% to RM632.4 million over the corresponding quarter last year.

In Malaysia, MAHB recorded a passenger growth of 2% to 25 million passengers compared to the corresponding quarter last year of 24.5 million passengers.

The passenger traffic for the Turkey operations increased by 7.8% to 9.7 million passengers against nine million
passengers in the 3Q17.

However, the non-aeronautical segment’s revenue has declined slightly by 1.6% to RM523 million due to lower non-aeronautical revenue from the Turkey operations.

MAHB’s non-airport operations has recorded a decline in revenue by 2.1% or RM1.6 million due to lower revenue from hotel and agriculture businesses.

Overall, the company said its Malaysia and Qatar operations have recorded an increase in revenue by 2.6% to RM883.5 million and 3.4% to RM36.8 million respectively.

However, its Turkey operations recorded a slight decline in revenue by 2% to RM309.2 million.

Meanwhile, MAHB also posted share of associate’s losses in the current quarter under review amounting to RM100,000 compared to profits of RM900,000 for the corresponding quarter last year, largely due to lower contribution from Kuala Lumpur Aviation Fuelling System Sdn Bhd.

On the other hand, share of joint-venture profits in the current quarter under review was higher by RM300,000 mainly due to higher contribution from Segi Astana Sdn Bhd.

MAHB said the management expects the group’s financial performance for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2018, to be better than the previous year.

“Passenger traffic for Malaysia in 2018 is expected to achieve a relatively moderate growth compared to the previous year with international passenger traffic growth outpacing domestic passenger traffic and the growth momentum in Turkey is expected to hold, based on current market conditions,” it added.