BAA shareholders to receive £240m dividend
02.01.12
BAA, the owner of Heathrow and Stansted airports, has been accused of ‘profiteering’ after setting out plans to pay its shareholders a £240m dividend this year, the Independent reports. BAA (SP) Ltd, which owns the two London airports as well as the Heathrow Express train service, said the payout would be ‘set initially’ at £60m per quarter to shareholders this year. It is the first divident for investors since 2006, when BAA was acquired by a consortium led by the Spanish construction group Ferrovial for £10.3bn.
Budget airline Ryanair hit out at the plans, saying the dividend was generated by BAA ‘overcharging’ passengers. A spokesman for the airline said: ‘Over the past five years BAA has doubled its charges to airlines at Stansted, and is generating excess profits which it is now distributing to shareholders. However, during this five-year period, traffic at Stansted has collapsed from over 24 million in 2007 to just over 18 million in 2011.’
‘BAA is further enriching its Spanish shareholders while it strangles London traffic, tourism and jobs. BAA is an abusive airport monopoly which has engaged in significant overcharging and monopoly profiteering at Stansted.’
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