Abertis sees profits rise nine percent in 2011

LONDON (ShareCast) - Spanish infrastructure company Abertis presented its 2011 annual results this morning, showing an 8.8% like-for-like rise in net profit for the year. Revenues during the 12 months to the end of December totalled €3,915m, compared with €3,917m the year before. Revenues at Abertis Telecom fell 7% due to the impact of non-recurring revenue in 2010, while sales at Abertis Airports increased by 5% as "activity picked up". Net (Frankfurt: A0Z22E - news) profits increased from €662m to €720m, helped by a 3.2% reduction of operating costs due to the "efforts realised as part of the group's efficiency policy and the high cash-flow capacity." The company said that a greater portion of its revenue and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was generated outside of Spain partly due to increased highway traffic in France (+1.2%) and America (+5.3%), offsetting a 6.5% domestic decline. The annual results were also affected by the sale of the Atlantia (Milan: ATL.MI - news) stake and parking and logistics businesses. The board has proposed a final dividend of 36 cents per share, taking the total dividend to 66 cents, 10% higher than the year before. It has also proposed a bonus share issue consisting of one new share for every 20 old shares, with shareholder remuneration increasing by an additional 5%. Taking into account a special dividend paid in July, the total dividend for 2011 was €1.73 per share, costing the group a total of €1.342bn. Net debt at the end of the period stood at €13,882m, 5.2% lower than it was last year. Cash flow was €1.533bn. Shares were down 2.09% at €12.63 in afternoon trade in Madrid. N.A.