Tag: loading

1 March 2018 – Expansión

Business / Aena is going to market 2.7 million m2 of land in Barajas over 40 years and 1.8 million m2 of land in El Prat over 20 years.

The starting gun has been fired for Aena’s real estate megaplan. The President of the firm, Jaime García-Legaz, confirmed the details of the project yesterday to analysts. It forms one of the pillars of the new strategy that the group is preparing for the period 2018-2021, which will be published within the next few weeks. Aena is going to launch a tender to hire an investment bank to design the process and determine the capex required and the formula to maximise the value. The airport manager, which spent €1.4 million in 2017 on the development of its plans for the project, will kick off in Madrid and Barcelona, where it owns the majority of its plots.

In Barajas (Madrid), it is going to market 2.7 million m2 of land over 40 years for a mixture of uses. According to its estimates, the maximum development potential is 3.6 million m2. Meanwhile, in El Prat (Barcelona), the term will last for 20 years and will span 1.8 million m2 of land, also for various uses, and including the construction of loading and logistics areas. According to the first estimates in the market, the capex associated with this project is going to amount to several hundreds of millions of euros per year.

“Real estate development is one of the main strands of the strategic plan together with the internationalisation of Aena and the dividend policy”, confirmed García-Legaz yesterday. On Tuesday, to coincide with the results announcement, the group announced the distribution of a dividend amounting to €6.50 gross per share, 80% of its profits in 2017, up by 69.7% compared to the previous year. “The Board considered what was appropriate, taking into account the increase in cash generation and the leverage level; and it is applicable to 2017”, he said. And for the future? “The policy will be reviewed with the new roadmap, but the Board’s philosophy involves returning to shareholders all of the free cash flow that is not required for operations overseas or capex over the next few years”, he said. The State is the primary shareholder of Aena with a 51% stake.

The K Factor

Meanwhile, the results for 2017 include a difference amounting to €57.8 million between the maximum annual revenue per passenger set by Dora – the airport framework applicable until 2021 – and actual revenues. That adjustment, known as the K factor, is going to have to be incorporated into the review of the tariffs for 2019. As a result, “the airport charges could be flat” when the forecast was a decrease of 2.2%. This year, Aena forecasts that air traffic is going to continue to rise, with growth of 5.5%.

Original story: Expansión (by Y. Blanco)

Translation: Carmel Drake