British airport operator BAA posted a higher-than-expected 18.8 per cent rise in annual pretax profit amid passenger growth and cost cuts.
BAA - which owns London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports - said today it expected another strong performance this year due to strong results from its retail businesses and property management.
"All these attributes give me confidence that we can sustain growth and translate our forecast rise in London passenger traffic of 3.5 per cent into a robust financial performance for 2005/06," Chief Executive Mike Clasper said in a statement.
BAA said pretax profit before exceptional items was £637 million for the year to the end of March 2005, compared to £536 million a year ago.
BAA's passenger numbers in the year rose 6.3 per cent at its UK airports.
More people travelled as stiff competition from low-cost airlines drove down European ticket prices, and long-haul traffic recovered from a downturn caused by the Iraq war and the outbreak of the SARS virus.
The airport operator also benefited from the inclusion of two busy Easter holiday breaks during the financial year.