MAHB has paid about RM3.6bil for KLIA2 so far

Published: Friday November 1, 2013 MYT 12:00:00 AM 

Updated: Friday November 1, 2013 MYT 9:08:01 AM

BY LEONG HUNG YEE

CFO MAGB Faizal Mansor presenting Malaysia Airports' Financial Results
for Q3 2013 on October 31,2013. - Shahrul Fazry Ismail /The Star

SEPANG: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), which posted a net profit of RM112.7mil for the third quarter ended Sept 30, has so far paid out some RM3.6bil for the construction of KL International Airport 2 or KLIA2.

Chief financial officer Faizal Mansor said the airport operator had drawn down borrowings of up to RM3.8bil for KLIA2 and that it was 95% completed.

“They (borrowings) are from our sukuk programme. Our cashflow remains strong,” he said at a briefing to announce its third-quarter results yesterday. The airport operator had cash and cash equivalents of RM543mil as at Sept 30.

MAHB’s revenue for the said quarter rose 29% to RM972.7mil from RM754.2mil a year ago. Its net profit of RM112.7mil fell marginally from the RM113mil posted in the same period a year ago.

For the first nine months to Sept 30, MAHB posted a net profit of RM340.5mil, or an earnings per share of 27.82 sen. Revenue for the period surged 34% to RM2.97bil against RM2.21bil last year.

Faizal explained that the lower third-quarter net profit was mainly due to the user fee payable to the Government.

He said 50% of the user fee would hit its profit and loss and the balance would hit its balance sheet.

The amount of user fee that has been recognised in the income statement represents half of the total user fee payable to the Government, while the other half is to reduce the amount due for the balance residual payment arising from MAHB’s restructuring exercise, which was completed in February 2009. Upon the full settlement of the payment, the user fee is now fully recognised in its income statement.

“It is just a one-off impact for both margins and profit,” Faizal said.

Going forward, he said MAHB remained optimistic about its fourth quarter, as passenger growth remained strong and new airlines were making an entry.

“We reckon air travel would remain strong,” Faizal said, adding that “Visit Malaysia Year 2014” would be positive for MAHB.

In addition, Faizal said its transformation efforts had worked. He said when Khazanah Nasional Bhd came in in 2003, MAHB’s share price was less than RM2 and currently, it was trading at around RM8.50.

“There is a lot of investor confidence in MAHB. Our shares have been going up steadily. And our foreign shareholdings had increased to 17.41% as at Sept 30,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Faizal said the allocation of some RM1bil under Budget 2014 for a new air traffic management centre and airport upgrades would be positive for MAHB and the industry.

“We look forward to the goods and services tax (GST). It would be a major thing for us. The GST is not only good for the Government but also positive for us, as duty-free shopping would provide savings of 6%.”