Research Update: Irish Airport Operator daa PLC Rating Raised To 'A' On Sovereign Upgrade; Outlook Stable

Following our upgrade of Ireland to 'AA-' from 'A+', we believe Ireland's government has an increased capacity to support state-owned airport group daa PLC (daa), if needed. We continue to believe there is a moderately high likelihood that daa would receive timely and sufficient extraordinary support from the government. Our stand-alone credit profile (SACP) on daa remains 'a-', after the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) released the final determination to set aeronautical charges at an average of €7.87 for the next regulatory period 2020-2024, up from €7.50 in the draft determination. Therefore, we are raising our long-term issuer and issue credit ratings on daa to 'A' from 'A-', and our short-term rating to 'A-1' from 'A-2'. The stable outlook reflects

...- Following our upgrade of Ireland to '##-' from 'A+', we believe Ireland's government has an increased capacity to support state-owned airport group daa PLC (daa), if needed. - We continue to believe there is a moderately high likelihood that daa would receive timely and sufficient extraordinary support from the government. - Our stand-alone credit profile (SACP) on daa remains 'a-', after the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) released the final determination to set aeronautical charges at an average of 7.87 for the next regulatory period 2020-2024, up from 7.50 in the draft determination. - Therefore, we are raising our long-term issuer and issue credit ratings on daa to 'A' from 'A-', and our short-term rating to 'A-1' from 'A-2'. - The stable outlook reflects our expectation that daa will maintain weighted average S&P Global Ratings-adjusted funds from operations (FFO) to debt between 20% and 30% in the 2020-2024 price control period. The credit metrics will be constrained by...

Research Update