Manchester Airport Group Investments Limited (MAGIL), parent of Manchester Airport Group Funding plc, said its revenue increased by 25% to £705.3 million for the six months ended September 30, 2023.

MAGIL said this resulted in an adjusted EBITDA of £345.8 million, an increase of £85.9 million (33.1%). 

EBITDA is corporate jargon for “earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation.”

Manchester Airports Group (MAG) owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports. MAG is owned by a combination of public and private shareholders, including Manchester City Council (35.5%), IFM Global Infrastructure Fund (35.5%) and the nine other Greater Manchester local authorities (29%).

“MAGIL delivered an operating profit of £218.4 million for the half year ended 30 September 2023 (2022: £22.1 million),” said MAGIL.

“The prior period result was heavily impacted by a one-off adjusted item charge of £119.7 million following the extinguishment of the group’s deferred debt agreement (DDA) for the exit from the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) pension scheme.

“All of MAG’s defined benefit pension schemes are now closed to future accrual.

“MAGIL’s parent, MAHL, reported an adjusted EBITDA of £346.1 million, and a profit from operations of £218.2 million for the half year ended 30 September 2023.”

MAGIL added: “MAGIL’s financial performance for the six months ended 30 September 2023 saw a continuing recovery of activity levels, with passenger numbers of 34.9m increasing by 14.4% compared to the six months ended 30 September 2022, and reaching 96% of pre-Covid-19 levels.”

In September 2023, Manchester Airports Group secured future funding requirements by issuing an 18-year, £360 million bond with a coupon of 6.125%, providing funding to repay a £360 million bond due to mature in April 2024.

MAGIL said its £1.82 billion of listed bonds, together with its bank facilities and retained cash resources of £498 million, provide it with a long-term stable funding platform.

MAGIL said its total net debt (financial covenant basis) was £1.325 billion at September 30, 2023, which was £388.3 million lower than March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic.