Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd [ASX:SYD] released its November foot traffic data today. According to the company’s numbers, domestic travel is down a whopping 87% for the month compared to the same month last year…even with the New South Wales-Victorian border opening up.
To be fair, the border only opened on 23 November. That’s why, in the words of the company, the numbers are showing a ‘modest’ recovery. So we’ll likely see better numbers next month.
Not surprisingly, international numbers are even worse
International travel is down 97% for the month compared to November 2019. And it’s likely to stay low for a while. As the company noted:
‘The downturn in international passenger traffic is expected to persist until government travel restrictions are eased.’
The top nationality of people coming through the airports is Australian, as Aussies continue to return home.
Total passengers for November (both domestic and international) were 350,000. That’s quite a drop (91%) from the 3.7 million who passed through the airport in November last year.
You can clearly see the massive drop in foot traffic in the chart below. Compare the numbers from April, when passengers dropped to 93,000 a month, to the approximate four million in December last year.
Source: Sydney Airport
Year to date, the airport has seen 10 million passengers go through its doors, a 74% fall from the 40 million it saw this time last year.
What could happen next the Sydney Airport share price?
The impact from the pandemic is showing in the company’s numbers.
For its half year results, SYD registered a loss after tax of $53.6 million, compared to the $17.3 million profit it clocked for the same period last year, along with a 36% decrease in revenue.
The company did manage to buff up its balance sheet earlier this year through a $2 billion equity raising. But with SYD still suffering from the impact of the pandemic, it has announced it is cancelling the final 2020 dividend.
The SYD share price had dropped 1% at time of writing, trading at $6.57. The truth is, the news wasn’t a huge surprise, as cancelling the dividend had already been flagged in August.
The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have hit the travel industry particularly hard, so if you looking for dividends it may be better to look elsewhere. Why not check out our free report, ‘Five Dividend Stocks Set to Thrive in the Post-Pandemic Era’ You can access it here.
Best,
Selva Freigedo,
The Rum Rebellion