DENMARK. A strong performance from the duty free business, managed by Gebr Heinemann’s Travel Retail Denmark partnership, was one of the highlights of Copenhagen Airport’s first-quarter financial results.
The company, majority owned by MAp Airports, posted a Q1 increase in total revenues of +7.4% to DKK703.5 million (US$125.3 million) year-on-year. Profit before tax also increased to DKK170.6 million (US$30.4 million), spurred by greater revenue, lower operating costs and fewer provisions as compared with the previous year.
Passenger numbers at Copenhagen Airport grew +11.4% year-on-year during the first quarter of 2010. The growth was driven by a greater number of transfer and international passengers and by strong growth in the number of domestic passengers.
Overall commercial revenues grew by +4.2% to DKK324 million (US$57.7 million) while concession revenues climbed by +12.3% to DKK191 million (US$34 million). Within this, Shopping Centre revenue fell by -3.4% to DKK118.2 million (US$21 million) – affected by renegotiations with some speciality retailers, said the company – but duty free revenues surged by +16.2%.
MAp Airports hailed the duty free performance, and said that commercial activities would be further enhanced in Q2 through new outlets and improved wayfinding.
Parking revenue also increased (+5.1%), not only because of the rise in passengers, but also because of the rise in business passengers, noted the airport.
![]() |
Click here to view the enlarged image (then hover over graphs with your cursor and click for full detail) |
Following are the first quarter result highlights:
-Copenhagen Airport posted an increase in passengers of +11.4% in the first quarter of 2010. Domestic passengers and transfer traffic grew by +15.2% and +5.2% respectively.
-Revenue grew +7.4% year-on-year to DKK703.5 million, up from DKK655.2 million in 2009.
-EBITDA grew +24.4% from DKK266.5 million (US$47.4 million), in 2009 to DKK331.4 million (US$59 million) in 2010. Excluding one-off items, EBITDA amounted to DKK337.4 million (US$60 million) up from DKK292.1 million (US$52 million) in the previous year. Copenhagen Airport noted that EBITDA benefited from passenger growth and that Q1 2009 was impacted by restructuring expenses.
-Profit before tax increased to DKK170.6 million (US$30.4 million) from DKK110.4 million US$19.6 million) in 2009.
2010 outlook:
The outlook remains positive despite the temporary closure in Q2 2010 of European airspace caused by the eruption of an Icelandic volcano, said the airport. The total number of passengers in 2010 is expected to increase, it added.