Auckland International Airport Chairman Wayne Boyd told yesterday’s annual meeting that profit in the three months to September went down to to $24.9 million from $25.2 million in the same period last year.
He added that interest costs, associated with a 12c-a-share special dividend paid to shareholders in August, rose $3.5 million to $11.5 million.
The company is issuing bonds worth up to $150 million to help finance the dividend and a $53 million share buyback.
Mr Boyd repeated Auckland Airport’s guide figure for net profit of $100 million-plus in the 2005-06 year. This year the company, the fifth biggest on the NZX 50 by weighting, recorded a 12 per cent rise in net profit to $105.6 million.
Goldman Sachs JBWere analyst Peter Sigley said Auckland Airport seemed cautiously optimistic about the current year, with passenger growth expected to be lower than in recent years.
