THE owner of Bournemouth Airport has announced record annual results.

Rigby Group PLC, which bought the airport in 2017, saw revenues from continuing operations rise by £398.3million to £2.77billion.

Revenues for its Regional & City Airports division rose by 28.5 per cent to £58.1m in the year ended March 31.

The group said the airport division delivered solid growth in passengers and profitability.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization were up 11.4 per cent to £65.4m for the group as a whole and up £9.8m to £17.3m for the airport operator.

More than 200,000sqft of new hangar space was acquired for the company’s clients in Bournemouth and Exeter. The company also owns Coventry, Exeter and Norwich airports and operates Blackpool, City of Derry and Solent Airport Daedalus on behalf of their owners.

New carriers were acquired for all the company’s airports.

Group chairman and chief executive Sir Peter Rigby said: “This is another strong set of financial results for the group, which underlines our growth strategy. Increases in revenue and profitability have been achieved at a time when we have also continued to invest in our services, infrastructure, and most crucial of all, our people ensuring we are in a position to meet our future group objectives.”

Steven Rigby, group chief operating officer, said: “Across our operations, we have witnessed key milestones which collectively have fed into yet another record set of financial metrics. We have made key acquisitions, as well as successful strategic divestments during the period. We will continue to look at further acquisitions if they add value to the group. As we look to our current fiscal year, we have much to be optimistic about with ambitious plans across our six divisions and expect to maintain our strong growth trajectory.”

Earlier this year, Rigby Group unveiled plans for a “world class” business park at Bournemouth Airport which it said could create up to 1,900 jobs. Rigby Real Estate submitted three planning applications fore the development, which would include a new site for Christchurch manufacturer REIDsteel.

In August, the airport said plans for a new executive lounge at Bournemouth Airport had been earmarked as a priority for 2020, after it emerged that it would not be delivered this year as originally planned.