Spanish builder Grupo Ferrovial said that UK airport operator BAA won't contribute to earnings until 2011 after a terror alert last year led to higher security costs. Ferrovial spent $20 bn (EUR 15 bn) for BAA last August, the same month an alert increased security costs at BAA to $42 mln.
Spanish builder Grupo Ferrovial said that UK airport operator BAA won't contribute to earnings until 2011 after a terror alert last year led to higher security costs. Ferrovial spent $20 bn (EUR 15 bn) for BAA last August, the same month an alert increased security costs at BAA to $42 mln.
'The terrorist crisis made the management of airports more difficult,' Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Villen told Bloomberg. 'We had to significantly increase security, and we hadn't foreseen that in our acquisition plan.' Ferrovial had previously estimated that the buy of the world's biggest airport operator BAA would add to profit from 2009.
Rising demand for air travel coupled with a more stable cash flow expectancy is attracting builders towards airports. Portugal's biggest construction company Mota-Engil SGPS has formed a joint venture to invest in airports, while Germany's Hochtief is buying Budapest airport from BAA.