Debt-laden British airports operator BAA said the worst of a slump in passenger numbers was over and it hoped to re-enter the bond market soon following the sale of London Gatwick airport.
The owner of London's Heathrow has been a burden for its Spanish parent, infrastructure group Ferrovial, which bought BAA using debt at the top of the market in 2006. It sold the capital's No. 2 airport Gatwick at a EUR142 million euro (USD$211 million) capital loss last week.
But the sale has cleared the way for the operator to re-enter the bond market.
"We would like to be in the bond market as soon as we can and we'd expect that to be relatively soon," BAA's CEO Colin Matthews said.
"As the economy recovers, passenger numbers will recover with it... I think we can say the worst is past."
Ferrovial had planned to sell around GBP4.5 billion pounds of bonds to refinance its purchase of BAA before the credit crunch intervened.
BAA said earlier that nine months earnings rose as increases in landing charges and a strong performance from its airport shops offset declines in passenger numbers.
Adjusted earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 16.8 percent to GBP804.6 million, while passenger numbers fell 5.5 percent to 90.7 million.
Net debt at September 30 was GBP9.771 billion, up from GBP9.426 billion at the end of 2008, and it booked a GBP225 million impairment charge on the Gatwick sale.
Its outlook for 2009 remained in line with expectations.
An initial GBP9 billion bridge loan for Ferrovial's purchase of BAA was refinanced one year ago, and Ferrovial on Tuesday denied speculation it was about to make a capital increase.
The company put in place a funding platform which it can use to issue bonds or utilize a GBP7.15 billion bank facility.
Ferrovial is expected to post a 1.9 percent fall in core earnings Thursday.
