Fraport beats earnings estimates, but cash flow weighs on shares

Aug 6 - German airport operator Fraport beat second-quarter earnings expectations on Thursday, but its shares fell after analysts highlighted weaker cash flow and the impact of a one-off gain on profitability.

Second-quarter EBITDA rose 0.7% to 386.3 million euros ($446 million), beating analysts' expectations of 372 million euros in an LSEG poll.

Shares in Fraport were down 2.4% by 0745 GMT as Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan analysts highlighted weaker free cash flow and noted that earnings were boosted by a 13 million euro one-off gain.

Fraport reported free cash flow of minus 59 million euros in the first half, compared with positive 29 million euros a year earlier, citing a 66 million euro increase in working capital as the main driver of the decline.

First-half revenue rose 4% to 2.1 billion euros.

Total passenger numbers in Frankfurt, Germany's main airport, declined by 0.8% due to strikes and disruption linked to the conflict in the Middle East. Passenger numbers increased at most of Fraport's airports in South America and Southeast Europe, although traffic at Antalya also declined.

Pilot and union strikes at Lufthansa, which accounts for the largest share of seat capacity at Frankfurt Airport, led to hundreds of daily flight cancellations in April and affected around 700,000 passengers, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

($1 = 0.8663 euros)

(Reporting by Simon Ferdinand Eibach, editing by Izabela Niemiec and Matt Scuffham)