Property sale pulls in funds for BAA

UK airports operator BAA has sold off 33 properties owned through a joint venture with Morley Fund Management to help Spanish owner Ferrovial pay off the debt taken on to buy the airports giant for £10 billion in 2006.

Pulling in £265 million, which will be split between BAA and Morley, the sale forms part of a Ferrovial programme of non-core sales and comes as BAA faces calls to sell one or more of the seven UK airports in its portfolio amid concern about a lack of competition – the Competition Commission has launched an enquiry into the matter.

At the smaller end of the sector, FTSE 250 airline easyJet encountered turbulence after stating that annual profits might be lower than expected due to escalating fuel prices. First-half trading is on track, with revenues performing well – the February load factors improved 1.8 percentage points year on year to 84.8 per cent’ and around 27 per cent of summer seats sold, slightly ahead of the previous year.

However, chief executive Andy Harrison pointed out the price of jet fuel had risen to ‘unprecedented’ levels, adding, ‘It is pretty obvious that if the recent significant rise is maintained then our second-half profits will be lower than previously expected.’ Nevertheless, he sees EasyJet emerging ‘as the winners in a high oil price environment’ on account of its business model.

On AIM, Silverjet, the £10.3 million business class-only British airline led by entrepreneur Lawrence Hunt, cheered investors with news of another record set of passenger and traffic statistics for February. According to official Civil Aviation Authority data, Hunt says, ‘Silverjet is the most punctual airline on both our London to New York and London to Dubai services.’

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