Heathrow praises PM’s “leadership” in airport expansion decision
Heathrow airport announced steady earnings growth this morning and took the opportunity to butter-up the Prime Minister in advance of a government announcement on Britain's airport expansion.
The numbers
Revenue for the nine months to September 2016 nudged up by 1.2 per cent compared to the previous year. It stood at £2.1bn and earnings (Ebitda) were £1.3bn, up 4.4 per cent compared with 2015.
Cash flow after investment and interest spiked up to £255m from £177m for the year to date.
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Total borrowings increased from £12.9bn to £14.5bn and the company has paid dividends to shareholders of £486m, up from the £289m it paid to them over the same nine month period in 2015.
Why its interesting
Shareholders at Britain's so-called "Brexit Boost" airport received their own bonus after Heathrow hiked its dividends. However, in terms laid out in its banking and financing agreements, the airport is restricted in how much it can pay out.
Who owns Heathrow airport?
| Shareholder | Percentage ownership |
| Ferrovial S.A. | 25.0 per cent |
| Qatar Holding LLC | 20.0 per cent |
| Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec | 12.6 per cent |
| Government of Singapore Investment Corporation | 11.2 per cent |
| Alinda Capital Partners | 11.2 per cent |
| China Investment Corporation | 10.0 per cent |
| Universities Superannuation Scheme | 10.0 per cent |
Instead of focussing solely on its financial performance, the airport highlighted that it had been voted for the third time as the "Best Major Airport" in ACI Europe's awards.
Read more: Boris allowed to speak out if government backs Heathrow
Heathrow also took the opportunity to underline record passenger levels of 57.3m over the nine months. Other than this, its chief exec focussed on saying nice things about the government.
What Heathrow said
Chief executive John Holland-Kaye said:
The Prime Minister is showing leadership and will decide on the critical national issue of Heathrow expansion in the next few days.
Heathrow is the right choice to help make Britain stronger and fairer for everyone – that’s why there is such broad support across the UK from Newquay to Inverness for our plans – and we stand ready to deliver the runway that will keep Britain a confident, outward looking trading nation as soon as we get the green light from government.