Liverpool Airport post-pandemic recovery helped by delaying repayment of £30 million council loan
Liverpool John Lennon Airport has increased turnover and reduced losses in the year to March 31, 2022, its latest accounts at Companies House reveal. Turnover in the year to March 31, 2022, rose to £15.126m, compared with £8.012m the previous year. A pre-tax loss of £4.874m was an improvement on the pre-tax loss of £12.060m a year ago, again, linked to the increase in passenger numbers as part of the ongoing recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic. The company has net assets of £5m, compared with £9.9m the previous year. In the the summer of 2020 the airport group was offered a £34m loan from the combined authority to help it through the pandemic. It said £30m was due to have been repaid on March 31 this year, but that deadline has now been extended for a further year. That is money from taxpayers, and the delay means the council is not getting its loan back soon. The figures reveal LJLA’s biggest source of revenue in the latest financial year was its car parking operation, which generated £5.251m. Aeronautical earned £4.489m, while concessions, or retail, provided £4.028m in turnover.
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Liverpool Airport post-pandemic recovery helped by deferment of £30m loan
By Robert Hough
May 15 2023
Liverpool John Lennon Airport has increased turnover and reduced losses in the year to March 31, 2022, its latest accounts at Companies House reveal.
It said it has faced another challenging year as part of the recovery from the pandemic which severely affected passenger numbers.
However, the huge influx of visitors to the city over the past week to attend the massively successful Eurovision Song Contest are expected to have helped to boost passenger numbers for its current financial year.
Turnover in the year to March 31, 2022, rose to £15.126m, compared with £8.012m the previous year. A pre-tax loss of £4.874m was an improvement on the pre-tax loss of £12.060m a year ago, again, linked to the increase in passenger numbers as part of the ongoing recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic.
The company has net assets of £5m, compared with £9.9m the previous year.
Directors say they have received assurances from the parent group, Liverpool Airport (Intermediate) No 1 Ltd, of continued support to enable it to continue in the foreseeable future – in this case 12 months – as a going concern.
The group said it remains positive about the airport’s prospects and the directors’ notes revealed that passenger numbers for the period April 2022 to January 2023 were 3.2 million, against 4.3 million between April 2019 to January 2020, prior to the pandemic, which represents a 75% recovery.
The notes, signed off by airport chairman Robert Hough, also reveal that the repayment deadline of a loan to Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has been extended.
In the the summer of 2020 the airport group was offered a £34m loan from the combined authority to help it through the pandemic. It said £30m was due to have been repaid on March 31 this year, but that deadline has now been extended for a further year.
The figures reveal LJLA’s biggest source of revenue in the latest financial year was its car parking operation, which generated £5.251m. Aeronautical earned £4.489m, while concessions, or retail, provided £4.028m in turnover.
During the year the airport employed 144 staff, down from 165 the previous year.
Directors say the business is in a strong position to return to growth as travel resumes. Once again it has decided not to pay a shareholder dividend.
Since the balance sheet date, the company said it has received a capital injection totalling £6.4m from its two main shareholders, Peel and Ancala, which will be used to fund capital expenditure.
Both companies hold a 47.1% stake in the airport, with Liverpool City Council owning 5.8% of its stock.
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See earlier:
Motion to Liverpool City Council says its funding of the airport is not consistent with its climate aims
In a motion to the Labour-led Liverpool City Council, Green member Anna Key said supporting Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) was not in line with the authority’s climate emergency declaration in 2019. For the Liverpool council to keep funding the city’s airport is “incompatible” with its effort to fight climate change, and become “carbon neutral” by 2030. The motion will go before a full council meeting on 26 January. Liverpool City Council has a 10% stake in the airport. Anna also called for opposition to LJLA’s “potential future expansion” plans. The plans for expansion would mean an increased number of flights, as well as destruction of valuable green space adjacent to the airport. There would also be more passenger and freight road traffic, causing air pollution and carbon emissions. Anna Kay said the council should stop supporting the airport financially. Her motion also calls on the council to get planners to undertake an urgent evidence-based review of all policies relating to green space, environment and green belt. There is a 38 Degrees petition to two councils, to protect the Oglet shore area from airport development.
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Liverpool Airport receives £34m loan from combined authority due to Covid-19 impact
Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) is to get a loan of £34m from the city region combined authority to help give it stability during the Covid crisis. The funding was approved at a meeting of the combined authority on Friday, with the airport described as a “vital strategic infrastructure asset for the city region”. The Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “International connectivity is essential for the local economy and the roles of international gateways such as ports, airports and cruise terminals as economic hubs and drivers for local economies and tourism need to be maximised.” ie. good to have people flying abroad for their holidays… The airport says it indirectly supports around 6,000 local jobs, providing £250m per annum in economic impact, (not counting the contribution to the UK’s tourism deficit…) The 10 Greater Manchester local authorities are also lending £250 million to the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) to help then with the Covid pandemic. This is from money borrowed at a low interest rate from government.
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