BAA plc

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:BAA plc.png BAA plc (Template:Lse) is the owner and operator of seven major United Kingdom airports and operator of several airports worldwide, making the company one of the largest transport companies in the world. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. At June 2005 its market capitalisation was approximately 6.6 billion pounds.

The British Airports Authority was established by the passing of the Airport Authority Act 1966, to take responsibility for four state-owned airports - London Heathrow Airport, London Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport and Prestwick International Airport. In the next few years, the authority acquired responsibility for Glasgow International Airport and Edinburgh Airport.

As part of Margaret Thatcher's moves to privatise government owned assets, the Airports Act (1986) was passed which mandated the creation of BAA plc as a vehicle by which stock market funds could be raised; the initial capitalisation of BAA plc was £1,225 million. In the early 1990's, the company sold off Prestwick. More recently it has expanded into international operations, including retail contracts at Boston Logan International Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (through subsidiary BAA USA, Inc.), and a total management contract with the City of Indianapolis to run entirely the Indianapolis International Airport (as BAA Indianapolis, Inc.).

BAA makes its money from charging landing fees to airlines and also increasingly from the wide range of shops in airport terminals. Its turnover for the year to 31 March 2005 was £2.115 billion, and it made a profit before tax of £733 million and a net profit of £545 million. BAA does not operate all UK airports; many are in the ownership of local authorities.

In December 2005, BAA made a winning bid of £1.2 billion for a 75% stake in Ferihegy, the largest airport in Hungary, which was being privatised by the Hungarian government. [1]

In March 2006, BAA rejected a $15.4 billion preliminary takeover bid from Grupo Ferrovial, a Spanish firm that specializes in infrastructure and which has been working on an offer since February. The British Regulators gave Ferrovial until April 24th to make a new bid.

Although the company is adamant that its name is strictly "BAA plc" and that the letters do not officially stand for anything, it is still widely (albeit erroneously) referred to as the "British Airports Authority" by both the media and the public - even though the Authority officially ceased to exist following the the 1986 privatisation.