Airport operator ADP (ADP.PA), which operates airports in France, Central Asia, India, and other countries, stated on Thursday that it anticipated profits from the COVID impact to fully recover this year after its annual earnings beat expectations on improved traffic and stronger activity in its retail and services divisions.
Airport operators’ profits are increasing even as rising inflation and the unpredictability of geopolitics are eroding consumer confidence as travel demand gradually returns to pre-pandemic levels.
In contrast to the polled estimate of 1.63 billion euros, ADP reported 2022 profits before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of 1.70 billion euros ($1.82 billion).
The company stated that it anticipated its EBITDA to reach pre-pandemic 2019 levels at least as early as this year, or at least 1.77 billion euros, exceeding its previous projections by a year.
In a statement, Chief Executive Officer Augustin de Romanet stated that “all the 2022 targets have been fulfilled or exceeded.”
The owner of Paris’s Orly and Roissy Charles de Gaulle airports predicted that by 2023, the group’s passenger volume will increase to between 95% and 105% of pre-pandemic levels.
($1 = 0.9346 euros)