Prague, June 6 (CTK) – Cesky Aeroholding (CAH) raised EBITDA profit by 14 percent to Kc4.9bn last year and higher revenues from aviation business, maintenance of planes and commercial services had a positive effect on the bottom line, the group said today.
The positive trend continued also in the first quarter of this year when operating profit was at last year’s level.
Cesky Aeroholding is a group of companies involved in air transport and related services. The released results concern CAH, Letiste Praha, Czech Airlines Technics and Czech Airlines Handling.
“The year-on-year growth in EBITDA profit by Kc600m reflects in particular the results of Letiste Praha, the group’s key asset, which registered a growth in passenger numbers and related sales,” said board chairman Vaclav Rehor.
“Effective management of operating costs also helped. Thanks to it, we were able to raise wages and continue planned repairs of airport infrastructure,” he added.
Gross operating profit of CAH’s key asset Letiste Praha, which runs the Vaclav Havel Airport Prague, increased by 15 percent to Kc4.6bn last year. Thanks to it, revenues from the aviation business increased by 15 percent.
Profit from commercial activities rose in the same way, mainly thanks to the opening of a new shopping zone in Terminal I. Letiste Praha raised the number of passengers by 18 percent to 15.4 million last year.
Operating profit from clearing of passengers and planes, provided by Czech Airlines Handling company at the Prague airport, increased by Kc8m to Kc161m.
Czech Airlines Technics (CSAT) was the only company whose EBITDA profit fell last year – by Kc2m to Kc125m. CSAT invested in opening of the fifth heavy maintenance line last year.
CAH’s management sees the first half of this year as successful as well. The group raised revenues from the aviation business by 7 percent.
“On the other hand, wage costs grow and we also continue investing in security, modern technology and raising of the capacity of terminals. All this will be reflected in the full-year result,” Rehor said.
Cesky Aeroholding is undergoing transformation this year. The government decided in May on its merger with Letiste Praha subsidiary which will become the successor company and CAH will cease to exist.
The merger took place retroactively as of January 1, 2018. Letiste Praha will be listed as the successor in the Register of Companies from August.