OREANDA-NEWS. As announced after last Monday's regular supervisory board meeting, Fraport AG achieved not only its financial goals in fiscal year 2014 but has also increased its dividend recommendation by 10 euro cents to EUR 1.35 per share. For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2014, Fraport's Group revenue rose to about EUR 2.4 billion (up 0.8 percent year-on-year; or up by 3.2 percent on an adjusted basis).

The operating result or Group EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) grew by 7.8 percent to EUR 790.1 million, while Group EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) advanced by a noticeable 10.1 percent to EUR 482.8 million. Fraport also posted a 6.8 percent gain in the Group result to EUR 251.8 million. At EUR 2.54, basic earnings per share were 5.8 percent higher - up 14 euro cents - compared to the previous year.

Fraport's good financial performance can be attributed to positive operational development at the company's Frankfurt Airport (FRA) home-base in connection with the comparably mild winter, as well as to traffic growth at all of the Group's airports. Despite numerous strike-related flight cancellations, Frankfurt Airport's passenger traffic increased by 2.6 percent, reaching a new record of almost 60 million passengers in 2014. Cargo (airfreight and airmail) throughput at FRA rose by 1.8 percent year-on-year to some 2.1 million metric tons.

Fraport AG's executive board chairman Dr. Stefan Schulte thanked both passengers and the Group's staff for the good figures: "By choosing Fraport's airports, our customers help secure employment and a healthy financial performance. The basis for positive development in fiscal year 2014 was our motivated and committed staff, who I would like to thank on behalf of the entire executive board." Schulte also highlighted the successful expansion of Fraport's international investment portfolio as a key development for the company in 2014. With the purchase of AMU Holding (Airmall), we established the foundation for Fraport's airport retailing business in the American market. Furthermore, Fraport won the international bid for Ljubljana Airport (LJU) in the capital city of Slovenia in southeastern Europe.

For the 2015 business year, Fraport expects the positive financial trends to continue within a challenging environment. Passenger traffic at Frankfurt Airport is forecast to grow by two to three percent this year - and by even a higher rate at the Group's other airports. Looking at key financial indicators, the executive board expects the Group revenue to reach between about EUR 2.55 billion and EUR 2.6 billion. Fraport is also expecting the Group EBITDA to range between about EUR 820 million and EUR 840 million, while Group EBIT could range between about EUR 500 million and EUR 520 million.

The Group result is also expected to climb to a level between about EUR 265 million and EUR 285 million. This outlook is conditional on evolving geopolitical matters and also on further possible aviation strikes. Furthermore, this outlook does not take into account any effects from implementing the planned concession for operating 14 regional airports in Greece - for which Fraport was selected last year as the preferred bidder in an international tender process. Originally scheduled to take place by the end of 2015, the takeover of operations at the Greek regional airports could be pushed back into the 2016 business year.