Buyout target Sydney Airport's H1 loss nearly doubles on low travel

Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd on Friday reported its H1 loss nearly doubled in a tough period for travel demand, days after rejecting an improved A$22.8b ($16.3b) buyout offer from a consortium of infrastructure investors. The A$97.4m net loss at Australia’s biggest airport operator for the six months ended June 30 compares with the A $53.6m loss reported last year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell by 30% to A$210.8m in H1, below the Visible Alpha consensus of A$228.6m cited by broker Jefferies. The company has said it may consider a higher buyout offer from the Sydney Aviation Alliance consortium of IFM Investors, QSuper, Global Infrastructure Partners and AustralianSuper after rejecting an improved proposal of A$8.45 disclosed on Monday. “The board is not philosophically opposed to a deal, but the first priority is to assess it on the basis of price,” Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert told analysts. The airport did not pay an interim distribution. Citi analysts expect distributions will be suspended until June 2022 due to a slow recovery from the pandemic, which has closed Australia’s international border and led to domestic travel restrictions. Sydney Airport’s international traffic was down 91% in H1 from last year’s levels, which had been less affected by the pandemic in the first quarter. Domestic traffic fell by 3.1% relative to 2020 but was down 57.5% on 2019 levels.<br/>