Government

One of the only profitable state-owned companies in South Africa 

Luke Fraser

 ·25 Aug 2025

Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has delivered a record net profit of R1.1 billion, and remains one of the few state-owned entities that are profitable while also declaring dividends. 

ACSA operates South Africa’s largest airports, including O.R. Tambo and Cape Town International Airport. 

Around 75% of the total is owned by the government, with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), five empowerment investors, and a staff share incentive scheme owning the rest. 

The rise in net profit for the year ended 31 March 2025 is over double the R472 million achieved a year earlier. 

The SOE’s revenue grew by 13% to R7.9 billion (2023/24: R7 billion), underpinned by improved performances from its aeronautical and non-aeronautical streams, with the latter contributing 49% to revenue.

EBITDA rose to R2.9 billion and net profit climbed to R1.1 billion, driven by disciplined cost management and strengthened internal controls. 

Capital expenditure rose to R861 million (2023/24: R568 million), with the SOE expanding airport infrastructure supporting long-term growth.

The company’s balance sheet remains strong, with total assets of R32 billion, a net debt-to-capitalisation ratio of 8% and liquid assets of R3.4 billion at the year-end.

With this in mind, the ACSA Board has approved the payment of R198 million in accrued preference share dividends and declared R113 million in ordinary share dividends for 2024/25. 

Although the total dividends declined from the 2023/24’s total of R815 million, there was a notable rise in the R47 million in dividends for ordinary shares, with the rest used for preference shares. 

Preference shareholders are paid a predetermined amount of dividends, while ordinary shareholders are compensated with varying amounts of dividends each year.

The group said the increase in ordinary dividends reflects ACSA’s stronger balance sheet and improving capacity to deliver value to shareholders. 

This makes ACSA one of the few SOEs that deliver returns to the government. Many other entities have received bailouts/capital investments but have yet to deliver returns to the state. 

From 2019 to 2024, South Africa’s total bailouts reached R282.600 billion, with Eskom receiving the lion’s share. In return, only Safcol declared a dividend of R1 million. 

Outlook 

“Our performance this year has been a story of contrasts, strong financial delivery on one hand, and operational headwinds on the other,” said CEO Mpumi Mpofu. 

“While these challenges were significant, they taught us valuable lessons to focus on preventative maintenance and avoid service disruptions for our stakeholders, the airlines and passengers.” 

Mpofu said this will be achieved through continuous improvement, targeted infrastructure investment, enhanced operational readiness, and customer experience.

ACSA said it is positioning itself as a future-reading airport operator via a R21.7 billion capital investment pipeline over the next five years, with projects at O.R. Tambo, Cape Town International and other key airports. 

The investment is complemented by more focus on digitisation, including partnerships with the CSIR and The Innovation Hub to drive aviation research, predictive maintenance, and biometric-enabled passenger journeys.

ACSA also embraces renewable energy products and hopes to align these with South Africa’s just energy transition.