Macquarie Airports' shares dive, Fraport, Ferrovial, Zurich Airport and Aeroports de Paris rise
Macquarie Airports' (MAp) shares took a dive yesterday, as investors digested the completion of the Sydney Airport "deleveraging exercise". MAp's contribution to help pay down the airport's heavy debt load stood at AUD711 million, increasing its stake in Sydney Airport by 2 ppts to 74.0%. Australian Infrastructure Fund's shares fell -2.9% for the second onsecutive day, as Qantas and Virgin Blue prepare to cut their capacity by around 5% next financial year. The Sydney ASX200 index gained +0.3%.
European airport shares were generally up yesterday, reflecting overall resilience in European stock markets. Shares in Fraport, Aeroports de Paris, Ferrovial (BAA's parent) and Vienna Airport rose strongly, by 3.1%, 4.0%, 6.8% and 7.7%, respectively.
Copenhagen Airport's shares went against the general European trend, falling 2.9%, despite an upbeat assessment of the traffic forecast of 5.0 million passengers in the coming Summer period (Jun-2009 to Aug-2009). CPH added, "financial crisis or not; the Danes have not cut their Summer holiday event out of their budget. We expect a busy Summer period". Perhaps investors were expecting an even busier Summer.
Selected airports daily share price movements (% change): 24-Jun-09