Annual Report & Accounts

In July 2022, NATS Holdings Limited (NATS) announced its results for the year ended 31 March 2022.

NATS reported a profit of £8.7m, after refinancing costs of £41.7m, albeit cash from operations was an outflow of £172.5m.  As for the prior year, the result includes an assessment of regulatory allowances, made in accordance with applicable accounting standards, for the Covid revenue shortfall which are being determined by the CAA’s retrospective reconciliation of revenue and costs due in early 2023.  The prior year loss included redundancy costs, which were principally voluntary, and a goodwill impairment charge.

Covid continued to have a significant impact on NATS’ operation where the priority continued to be the health and wellbeing of employees while maintaining a safe and resilient service for customers.  The key skills and capacity to safely support the operational recovery of aviation have been retained.

NATS handled 1.29m flights as Covid travel restrictions lifted during the year.  Whilst a 95% increase on the prior year, this was still only equivalent to 50% of pre-pandemic volumes, which was the key driver in the operating cash outflow before capital investment and financing.

In June 2021, NERL, NATS’ regulated business, completed a full refinancing of its debt structure.  It secured £1.6bn of funding by issuing £750m of unsecured bonds and agreeing £850m of new unsecured bank facilities.  This enabled the repayment of more expensive secured bonds in place since 2003 and of existing bank borrowings.  The refinancing ensures NATS is well placed for a range of recovery outcomes.

NERL presented its business plan for the NR23 five-year price control to the CAA for its review and decision in early 2023 . The plan reflected an extensive consultation with stakeholders.  It delivers a safe and resilient air traffic service at affordable prices to airspace users while ensuring NERL is able to finance its activities. It provides capacity for flight volumes to grow back above 2019 levels during NR23 while enabling environmental and fuel benefits.

Notes

1. Excludes derivative financial instruments.
2. Ratio of net debt (as defined by NERL’s Licence) to regulatory assets of the economically regulated business.
3. Paid in financial year.
4. An Airprox is a situation in which the safety of the aircraft was or may have been compromised in the opinion of a pilot or a controller.
5. The three-dimensional inefficiency score (3Di) measures the fuel efficiency of flight profiles. NATS has made the 3Di environmental insight tool freely available to aviation stakeholders to use to track their carbon efficiency.

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