Manchester Airports Group handles a record 64m passengers
Total group revenues in the year to the end of March came in at £1.3 billion, up 8 per cent, while earnings before interest, tax and other deductions rose 12 per cent to £570 million.
Manchester airport handled 31.1 million passengers, the first time it had exceeded the 30 million mark. Stansted, London's third airport, handled 29.1 million. East Midlands, between Nottingham and Derby, which is more of a freight hub, handled 4 million passengers.
In total, Manchester Airports Group or MAG handles about three quarters as many passengers as the four terminals at Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe. Manchester airport itself is the country's third largest airport after Gatwick.
'Our airports are engines of growth for the regions they serve,' Ken O'Toole, MAG's chief executive, said. 'As the UK's largest private investor in transport infrastructure outside London, we're creating jobs, supporting local economies, enabling trade and tourism and ensuring prosperity is shared across the country.'
The long-term prospects of Manchester becoming a Heathrow of the north were dealt a blow by HS2. The over-budget, high-speed railway has been scrapped north of Birmingham but was originally supposed to go on north to Manchester, with a transport nexus adjacent to the airport connecting west-east rail links between Liverpool and Leeds and the other cities of Yorkshire and the Northeast.
Manchester airport is in the last of a ten-year transformation programme and the creation of a new terminal which has not always enabled the smoothest of experiences for passengers in recent times. It hopes to get passenger numbers up to 50 million a year.
• The UK's worst airport for flight delays revealed
Its mainstay airlines include easyJet, Ryanair and the holiday carriers Tui and Jet2.
While British Airways only flies a Heathrow-Manchester shuttle service, Virgin Atlantic has set up an international hub there alongside the other intercontinental operators Emirates, Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Turkish and a clutch of Chinese airlines.
MAG announced on Tuesday that IndiGo is to launch services between Manchester and Mumbai, its first flights to anywhere in Europe or the UK. IndiGo is the main competitor carrier to Air India, which is reeling from the Ahmedabad air disaster in which 260 people lost their lives.
Manchester airport hopes to get passenger numbers up to 50 million a year
MARTIN RICKETT/PA WIRE
Stansted, which was acquired during the forced break-up of the old BAA by the competition authorities, is the UK home of Ryanair which accounts for more than two thirds of passengers going through the Essex airport, and about one eighth of the Irish budget airline's pan-European operations.
Stansted is about to go through a £1.1 billion five-year investment to stretch its capacity to 43 million a year — about the same number that Gatwick currently handles. It is asking the permission of the local council to sign off on plans to extend further to a capacity of 51 million passengers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
4 minutes ago
- Times
Tally of growth businesses selling up nears 8,000 in 10 years
The number of high-growth businesses choosing to sell up has hit almost 8,000 over the past ten years as founders sell their companies to corporates or float their enterprises on public markets. Acquisitions have accounted for the majority of business exits over the period, according to analysis by Charles Stanley, the investment management firm. Deals peaked in the year after the pandemic, with 1,110 acquisitions taking place. Corporate buyers accounted for 956 purchases and financial buyers for 154 purchases. The firm's research also found that almost 40 per cent of the exit activity has occurred in the last two and a half years. Cliadhna Law, head of direct and professional sales at Charles Stanley, said: 'Acquisitions remain the dominant form of exit, driven by both corporate and financial buyers, and IPOs, although less frequent, are important for high-growth firms seeking public capital and global visibility. 'A more stable exit landscape may be on the horizon, one defined by sustained acquisition activity and signs of a potential recovery in the IPO market. These changes reflect the UK's increasingly flexible approach to value realisation and the changing priorities of founders, investors, and buyers across the high-growth ecosystem.' The City is hopeful for a more sustained pick-up in company listings after it emerged Visma, a private equity-backed business software group, is considering a market debut in London. The group is based in Oslo, Norway, and has been valued at around €19 billion. Visma's potential listing comes after a number of large companies moved their listings away from London to New York, including Ashtead, the industrial equipment hire firm, Flutter, the owner of Paddy Power, CRH, the building materials supplier, and Ferguson, the plumbing group. Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, told business leaders last month that there was a need to 'reset the psychology' and 'put aside British modesty and celebrate' the strengths of UK markets. In a speech in the City, he said: 'We have world-leading banking, insurance, derivatives, debt, foreign exchange and commodity markets and infrastructure. We lead Europe in fintechs and are second only to the US in investment management.'
Telegraph
23 minutes ago
- Telegraph
The conditions are just right for this airline owner to soar
Questor is The Telegraph's stock-picking column, helping you decode the markets and offering insights on where to invest. Even after soaring by 107pc since our initial 'buy' recommendation in February 2021, shares in British Airways owner IAG continue to trade on a dirt-cheap valuation. The FTSE 100-listed company, which also owns several other airlines including Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, has a price-to-earnings ratio of just 7.1 at a time when the UK's large-cap index trades very close to a record high. The firm's near-term financial forecasts do little to help justify its bargain basement price level. While investors may naturally expect such a lowly-valued stock to have a deteriorating bottom line, its earnings per share are set to rise by 12pc this year and by a further 8pc next year. Indeed, as a highly cyclical firm, IAG is well placed to benefit from the full effect of sustained monetary policy easing across its key markets of the US, Eurozone and the UK. Due to the existence of time lags, interest rate cuts enacted thus far by central banks in all three geographies are yet to have their maximum impact on economic growth or wage increases. And with sticky inflation widely expected to dissipate over the medium term, a likely continuation of recent monetary policy easing could lead to rising spending power among consumers that prompts higher demand for international air travel. In fact, passenger numbers for the global airline industry are forecast to rise by 5.8pc this year. They are also expected to double from their pre-pandemic level of four billion people per year to roughly eight billion people per year by 2040. With IAG having a well-diversified business model, it is in a relatively strong position to capitalise on an upbeat long-term industry outlook. Its portfolio of airlines equates to a greater variety of geographies covered and, perhaps more importantly, a wider range of price points vis-à-vis its rivals. For example, it is not limited to European budget short-haul operations as per some of its sector peers. A diverse range of operations could prove particularly useful should an uncertain outlook caused by the global trade war lead to temporary economic difficulties. Given that the firm had total liquidity of around €12.4bn (£10.5 bn) at the end of March this year, while net interest costs were covered more than eight times by operating profits last year, it is well placed to overcome the inherent ups-and-downs of the economic cycle. The company's latest quarterly results, meanwhile, showed that it continues to reinvest for long-term growth. As well as reporting a first-quarter rise in sales of 9.6pc and an operating profit of €198m, versus just €68m in the same period from the prior year, the firm announced that it has ordered 53 new wide-body aeroplanes. It also confirmed that it is making progress with a €1bn share buyback programme that was announced earlier this year. Share repurchases that are set to take place over the coming months should have a positive impact on the company's share price. Given its dirt-cheap market valuation, a share buyback programme appears to be a highly logical use of excess cash. While a dividend yield of just 2.2pc, alongside the company's highly cyclical status, means its income appeal is somewhat limited, fast-paced earnings growth could lead to a brisk pace of increase in shareholder payouts over the coming years. As mentioned, IAG's share price has more than doubled since our initial 'buy' tip in February 2021. In doing so, it has outperformed the FTSE 100 index by 82 percentage points. In the short run, the company's cyclical status means its shares could be severely affected by news updates regarding the ongoing global trade war. While this may equate to elevated volatility, Questor remains highly upbeat about the stock's long-term capital growth potential. This is largely due to the vast margin of safety offered by its shares. Investors appear to be materially undervaluing the firm's growth prospects as the impact of falling interest rates, as well as modest inflation, become more evident. With IAG having a solid financial position through which to overcome potential near-term challenges, and it reinvesting heavily ahead of a likely continued improvement in its industry outlook, the stock remains a worthwhile purchase. Questor says: buy Ticker: IAG Share price at close: 343.1p
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
F1 chief wants to see record-breaking Silverstone stay on calendar for good
The Formula One chief executive, Stefano Domenicali, has said he would like the British Grand Prix at Silverstone to remain on the F1 calendar for ever, with the event set to host what is expected to be the largest meeting in the sport's history, reaching half a million people over four days this weekend. The British GP, which has been on the calendar since F1 began in 1950, is expected to sell out with record numbers and Domenicali acknowledged it was part of a large and thriving F1 business in Britain, which he hopes can be improved by working closer with the UK government when he meets the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and other government officials at Downing Street on Wednesday afternoon. Last year Silverstone extended its contract with F1 to host the race until 2034, one of many long-term deals the sport has concluded recently, including Austria extending to 2041 last week, but Domenicali said the British GP was such a unique event for the sport in size and interest it could negotiate a deal of even greater longevity. 'Silverstone has the right characteristics to stay for ever in the calendar,' he said. 'There's no other places where you can develop such a huge event in the UK. I don't see any other places, to be honest. 'In the past the relationship with the Silverstone promoters has been intense and they know that. Our approach is to find the best situation. I don't see Silverstone not being able, if they want, to do what others have already done. We've done already last year a big step, never done before.' The meeting on Wednesday, to celebrate F1's 75th anniversary, will include senior figures from F1, including drivers and team principals as well as apprentices and members of the all-female F1 Academy. It is hoped to be part of a developing relationship with the government to work better with the sport, notably in areas including infrastructure and over the effects of Brexit on F1, with seven of the 10 teams based in the UK. F1 is now an increasingly important industrial player in the UK. It is worth £12bn to the economy annually and employs 6,000 people directly, with a further 41,000 in the 4,500 associated supply chain companies. 'I will highlight to the prime minister the technology and the centres of excellence that are in the UK,' Domenicali said. 'Of the fact that with Brexit there are complications for movements, there are complications for the visas. I'm saying that because I think that it's relevant to keep the possibility for people to be attracted to work here. Because if you lose that link, then immediately the centre could be moving other places.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Complications include the carnet system now required for moving equipment into Europe, which has knock-on effects in costs, time and notably sustainability. Visa issues for entry to the UK also still exist for those coming to work here in F1 and Domenicali hoped what is a continuing dialogue would prove fruitful. 'We have already formally presented in order to see if in the agenda of the government there will be a sort of attention to this, it's our duty to present respectfully in the right way to them,' he said. 'Of course, there is the hope for the government to understand if there is a way to have some exceptions or a way to work around the needs that we have. We will not decide the priority on which your government will dictate the agenda for the next step but we're going to do it in the right way.'
