CIAL declares eight percent dividend

Our Corporate Bureau
28 June 2004

Kochi: The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) on Thursday declared its maiden dividend of eight percent on the paid up capital of Rs.1.48 billion .

CIAL is the country's first airport outside the ambit of the Airports
Authority of India and was floated as a public limited company five years ago.

"This is the first company in the country's infrastructure sector to declare a dividend and we are extremely pleased to thank all the share holders and the employees who made this a reality," chief minister A.K. Antony, who is also the CIAL chairman, told reporters after a meeting of the board of directors.

The airport was dedicated to the nation May 25, 1999. Since then, traffic has picked up from a mere 76 flights a week in 1999 to a record 166 flights this year. The number of passengers has also gone up from 496,000 in 1999-2000 to 1.33 million in 2003-04.

CIAL saw its operational revenue increase from Rs.568 million in 2002-03 to Rs.793 million for the year 2003-04.The airport also earned a net profit after tax of Rs.211 million during the year 2003-04, up from Rs.125 million in 2002-03.

The airport was brought under a public limited company with equity participation from the state government and a large number of NRIs, of which a majority are based in the Gulf and are from Kerala.