BAA attracting ‘a lot of interest’ for Edinburgh Airport

Baa yesterday revealed it was “attracting a lot of interest” for Edinburgh Airport, which the Spanish-owned group last week put up for sale.

Chief financial officer Jose Leo said: “Informally, in the past, we have had many approaches… we are obviously not in the best time ever [to sell], but Edinburgh Airport is performing well and is attracting a lot of interest.”

He was speaking as BAA unveiled a rise in earnings, helped by continued growth at London’s Heathrow airport, where passenger traffic is holding up, despite global economic uncertainty.

BAA is bowing to a Competition Commission order to sell one of its two main Scottish assets, following a two-year battle over whether it exerted a dominant hold on British airports.

Officials told the group earlier this month that it must sell either Edinburgh or Glasgow before it disposes of London Stansted.

Analysts value Edinburgh at about £600 million. Interest is expected from a range of airport operators, including Manchester and Vancouver, as well as a consortium of Scottish business leaders, led by investment banker Ben Thomson and former Edinburgh Airport boss Richard Jeffrey.

BAA said a judicial review of the competition watchdog’s ruling requiring it to sell off Stansted would take place in December.

Results for BAA (SP) Ltd, encompassing just Heathrow and Stansted, showed adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 17.1 per cent to £842.2m in the nine months to the end of September on revenues 10.2 per cent higher at £1.7 billion.

The group, which also owns Aberdeen and Southampton airports, is flagging a solid performance in the coming year despite economic uncertainty in Europe and the US that many analysts believe could hit passenger numbers.

Leo said: “We, and many other players in our market are cautious about the coming months, but Heathrow is well-equipped to deal with recessions and downturns.”