Acsa pursues business opportunities in Africa

Announcing its results for the 2013 financial year, Acsa confirmed that, in collaboration with the South African Government, the company would pursue business opportunities in Africa.

Maureen Manyama-Matome, Acsa finance director, said: “Successes in India and Brazil will inform a new focus on opportunities in emerging markets. Depending on the success of these ventures, the company will be able to reduce its reliance on aeronautical income.”
 
She continued to say that the past financial year was primarily driven by an increase in aeronautical revenue given that tariffs to compensate for the investment in expansion were only recoverable through tariff increases once the new facilities had been brought into operation.

During the past financial year, Acsa’s debt has been reduced from R16,7 billion (March 2012) to R14,8 billion (March 2013). This has resulted in the reduction of the gearing ratio from 60% to 53% over this period. The early settlement of a R1,3 billion loan, together with other loan redemptions ahead of time, resulted in the nett financing cost for the year being reduced by R1,5 billion, a decrease of 28% when compared with the previous year.

“During the period under review, total revenue increased by 16% to R6,7 billion. Non-aeronautical income, derived from retail operations, advertising, parking, car rental, property and overseas operations, contributed R2,4 billion to the total,” said Maureen.

She said 17,4 million passengers departed from the company’s network of nine airports during the financial year. Encouragingly, international passenger traffic and aircraft landings increased by one percent. “However, and disappointingly, the same cannot be reported for domestic travel. The slow recovery in departing passenger numbers clearly demonstrates the lethargic growth that threatens the health of the aviation industry, and projections for the next two years are for minimal growth at best,” said Maureen.