British airport operator BAA posted a 13 per cent rise in third-quarter profit and stuck by its passenger traffic growth forecast for its current fiscal year.
The owner of seven UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, grew its pretax profit to £146 million sterling in the three months to the end of December from £129 million the prior year.
But growth in the number of passengers passing through BAA's airports slowed to 4.3 per cent in the latest three months compared with the year before.
Though that was down from 5.7 per cent growth in the previous three months, and well shy of the first quarter's 9.7 per cent growth rate, BAA stood by a forecast to grow passenger volumes by over 6 per cent over the course of the fiscal year.
The figure was buoyed by a £12 million profit on the sale of the company's Jurys Inn Hotel, Heathrow. Operating profit rose 5.4 per cent to £157 million.
BAA said its retail business had delivered "solid results" in what it termed "adverse market conditions".