Topic: Yesterday, FWAG published detailed FY'24 prelims and proposed a 25% dividend increase.

For the first time, the group surpassed the billion-threshold with € 1.05bn in FY'24 revenues (eNuW: € 1.04bn), showing a solid 13% yoy growth. Main sales drivers were the Airport segment (+15% yoy; 48% of sales), thanks to the 9.7% increase in airport charges in combination with a 7% pax growth in VIE, while the segment Retail & Properties grew by 11% yoy (19% of sales). A similar, but slightly better picture was seen at MLA, as the Malta segment increased sales by 21% yoy to € 143m (14% of sales), also mainly driven by passenger growth (+15% yoy). - see p. 2 for details

EBITDA came in slightly better than expected and grew to € 442m (eNuW: € 429m) with a comfortable 42% EBITDA margin (-0.2pp yoy). EBIT stood at € 306m (eNuW: € 286m) and net income b.m. increased by 27% yoy to € 240m (eNuW: € 224m). Consequently, FWAG proposed a DPS increase of 25% yoy to € 1.65 (eNuW: € 1.57), which corresponds to a payout ratio of 64% (eNuW: 65%) and currently offers a 3.1% dividend yield.

Upbeat cash generation. FWAG reported a € 512m net cash position, which came in much better than expected (eNuW: € 410m), thanks to a superb Q4 CFO of € 122m (eNuW: € 49m; FY'24: € 444m, 100% CFO/EBITDA cash conversion) and CAPEX of € 66m in line with expectations (eNuW: € 66m). Against this backdrop, the FY'24 FCF stood at € 254m (24% of sales) and more than covers the upcoming dividend payment (€ 138m, due in June '25) and even leaves room to store cash in time deposits until a decision on the third runway project is reached.

Outlook 2025. The 2025 travel season should come in similarly strong or slightly better than last year, current booking data show. In particular in Vienna, air travel remained the preferred choice of tourists (39% arrive by plane). This is also reflected in FWAG's FY'25e financial guidance (see bottom right), which "could turn out to be conservative already" the CFO commented in the earnings call, further stating that the "approximately" could now be read as an "at least".

- continued -

(Geo)politics to shape newsflow. With Germany and Austria forming new governments, pressure on the EU to improve air travel legislation could mount up. Moreover, potential peace in Ukraine and/or Middle East could revive air travel to those regions, ultimately increasing passenger numbers.

In sum, we remain positive about FWAG's operating performance, however expect this to be priced in at current levels. Therefore, we reiterate our HOLD recommendation with an unchanged PT of € 60.00, based on DCF.