Last checked at 12 Nov 2020 12:15
12 November 2020
Heathrow Finance credit rating update
Credit rating agency Moody's downgraded Heathrow Finance plc's debt rating to B1 from Ba3 and maintained its negative outlook. The one notch downgrade reflects the slower than expected recovery in passenger demand due to travel restrictions and quarantine measures. Whilst Moody's recognised Heathrow's management actions to protect the financial resilience of the airport, the agency expects key credit metrics to remain under pressure for longer than initially anticipated.
Heathrow's financial position remains robust with £4.5bn of cash and committed facilities after the funding raised and capital injection in October 2020.
Heathrow Chief Financial Officer Javier Echave said:
"Heathrow's financial position remains strong. In the absence of any policy support on passenger testing or sectoral financial help from the UK Government, we have further enhanced our liquidity position and secured a capital injection that will provide additional headroom to our financial covenants. We will continue to take decisive steps to protect Heathrow's financial resilience and we remain committed to restoring stronger credit metrics in the medium term."
Heathrow published its revised traffic outlook on 28 October 2020 and forecasts no covenant breach in 2021.
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