Business
Fraport Annual General Meeting: EUR1.15 Dividen...
Fraport Annual General Meeting: EUR1.15 Dividen....
About this update from Firering Strategic Minerals Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n\n\n\nFRANKFURT, Germany, May 28 /PRNewswire/ --\n\n- \"Fraport Presents Itself in Top Form Again\"\n\n Fraport's executive board chairman Dr. Wilhelm Bender\nreported on \"the very successful 2007 financial year\" at the company's Annual\nGeneral Meeting (AGM) in Frankfurt today. \"Despite considerable capacity\nconstraints at Frankfurt Airport, we were able to achieve noticeable growth\nin passenger and airfreight figures,\" said Bender. \"Moreover, 2007 was\nparticularly successful because of the quantum leap taken toward Frankfurt\nAirport's expansion, when the Hesse government's zoning approval was issued\nlast December.\"\n\n\n\n With EUR2.329 billion, Fraport AG's revenues exceeded the\nprevious year's level by 8.6 percent. Rising 0.4 percent to EUR580.5 million,\noperating results (EBITDA or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation\nand amortization) also achieved a new record level, despite positive one-off\nspecial effects in the previous year. One-off effects in 2006 were also the\nreason why Group profits of EUR213.7 million in 2007 fell slightly short of \nthe previous year's record level.\n\n\n\n The executive and supervisory boards are recommending that\nshareholders again receive a dividend of EUR1.15 per share for fiscal year\n2007 - despite the special effects in the previous year. \"This demonstrates\ncontinuity on a high level,\" stated Fraport's executive board chairman.\n\n\n\n Bender explained that the company plans to invest\napproximately EUR4 billion for expanding Frankfurt Airport's (FRA) capacity -\nfor the new runway and associated infrastructure as well as for constructing\nthe planned Terminal 3 once the new runway is inaugurated. A further EUR3\nbillion will be spent on modernizing and optimizing existing airport\nfacilities. \"This total investment of about EUR7 billion - which, over the\nnext seven years, is intended to maintain FRA's future competitiveness - will\nbe a considerable strain on us\", Bender emphasized. However, the total budget\nis financially feasible and imperative, if Frankfurt does not want to drop\nout of the \"champions league of globally linked air transportation hubs.\"\n\n\n\n The Airport Expansion Program will serve as a \"giant\nprivately-financed investment program\" for the economies of the\nFrankfurt/Rhine-Main region, the state of Hesse, and the entire cou...