KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) net profit surged 203.35 per cent to RM727.30 million in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2018 versus RM239.75 million in 2017 due to, among others, unrealised gain on the fair value of investment in GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) amounting to RM258.4 million.

MAHB has an 11 per cent stake in GHIAL.

The Group’s revenue rose 4.3 per cent to RM4.85 billion from RM4.65 billion last year, underpinned by growth in airport operations, it said.

Total revenue growth by both aeronautical and non-aeronautical segments increased 4.7 per cent from RM4.35 billion to RM4.56 billion, it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia here, today.

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However, non-airport operations revenue declined slightly by 1.8 per cent over the last year to RM291.4 million, mainly due to lower contributions from the agriculture business.

“Overall, Malaysia operations recorded a revenue of RM3.54 billion with growth of 3.5 per cent, whilst Turkey and Qatar operations recorded a revenue growth of 6.3 per cent to RM1.15 billion and 8.4 per cent to RM149.1 million, respectively,” it added.

On net profit, MAHB said there was an unrealised gain on the fair value of investment in GHIAL amounting to RM258.4 million and higher revenue of RM200.4 million.

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“Cost has increased by 1.8 per cent to RM4.64 billion as compared to last year, mainly due to higher utilities and administrative cost recorded during the year.”

The net profit for Malaysia and Qatar was higher compared with 2017, while Turkey operations recorded an improvement in pre-tax loss to RM209.0 million, decreasing by RM78.5 million compared to last year, it explained.

The fourth quarter net profit, however, was lower at RM28 million compared with RM32.28 million, while revenue stood at RM1.25 billion versus RM1.24 billion previously.

On the outlook, MAHB said based on prevailing economic conditions and the airlines seat capacity offered, Malaysia passenger traffic in 2019 is expected to grow by 4.9 per cent with international and domestic passenger traffic growing at 2.4 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively.

MAHB’s network of airports, including, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport  (ISGIA) recorded 133.1 million passengers in the current year under review from Jan 1, 2018 to Dec 31, 2018, representing a growth of 3.9 per cent over last year.

During the year, traffic for international passengers improved by 5.9 per cent, while traffic for domestic passengers increased by 2.2 per cent.

Correspondingly, aircraft movements improved by 2.8 per cent with international aircraft movements increased by 6.1 per cent and domestic aircraft movements increased by 0.7 per cent, it said. — Bernama