Liverpool Airport post-pandemic recovery helped by deferment of £30m 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.

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.