By Justin Lee (Singapore)
Aena SME, S.A. is a Spanish state-owned company that manages 46 airports and 2 heliports in Spain. Through its subsidiary company Aena Internacional, it also participates in the management of another 23 airports: one in Europe (London Luton airport, of which it owns 51% of the share capital), 6 airports in Northeast Brazil (where it has 100% share ownership) and 16 other airports in the rest of the Americas (12 in Mexico, 2 in Colombia and 2 in Jamaica).
ENAIRE, the state-owned air navigation manager in Spain and Western Sahara owns 51% of the shares of Aena, while the remaining shares are publicly-floated on the Bolsa Madrid.
Source: Aena 2020 Results Presentation
Due to the disruption in air travel caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Aena’s total passenger traffic across its airports in Spain, London Luton-Airport and the 6 airports of the Northeast Brazil decreased by 70.9% to 89.3 million in 2020.
At the 46 airports in Spain, total passenger traffic, which was 275.2 million in 2019, fell by 72.4% to 76.1 million.
At London Luton Airport, passenger traffic fell by 69.6% to 5.5 million in 2020 while passenger traffic at the 6 airports in Northeast Brazil fell 44% to 7.7 million.
Aena’s turnover fell by 50.2% from EUR 4.5bn in 2019 to EUR 2.2bn in 2020. Much of the fall in revenue due to the losses in passenger traffic was in the form of aeronautical revenues, which saw a 67.1% decline to EUR 935mn in 2020, while commercial revenues were able to cushion the negative impact with a 16.7% decline to EUR 1bn.
Source: Aena 2020 Results Presentation
The group generated an operating loss of EUR 92.3mn in 2020. It had generated an operating profit of EUR 1.98bn in 2019.
A net loss of EUR 126.8mn was generated in 2020. In contrast, Aena had generated a net profit of EUR 1.4bn in 2019.
As of 31 December 2020, Aena had total assets worth EUR 15.7bn, a 5.4% increase from the value of its total assets at EUR 14.9bn as of 31 December 2019.
This increase in its total assets was largely driven by 182.3% increase in current assets from EUR 752mn to EUR 2.13bn. With the aim of strengthening the it’s liquidity during the crisis period, Aena had proceeded to sign loans with various financial entities between April and May 2020, for a combined amount of EUR 2.3bn.
Thanks to these loans, Aena was able to increase the availability of cash and credit facilities as of 31 December 2020 to a total of EUR 2.1bn.
While Aena’s total assets as of 31 December 2020 had seen a 5.4% increase from that as of 31 December 2019, total liabilities saw a 12.6% increase from EUR 8.5bn as of 31 December 2019 to EUR 9.6bn as of 31 December 2020.