Berliner Flughafengesellschaft: criticism of annual report

The Berlin-Brandenburg airport company, which is responsible, among other things, for the new capital city airport BER, is presenting an unusually short annual report. Criticism comes from politics.

Schönefeld / Potsdam (dpa) - The Berlin-Brandenburg Airport Company (FBB) is receiving criticism for its comparatively short annual report for 2019. The left wing in the Brandenburg Parliament accused the company of lacking transparency in financial matters.

"The months-long vacancy for the position of CFB CFO should not serve as a fig leaf for a reduced annual report," said MP Marlen Block, member of the BER special committee. There is also a lack of transparency with the business plan and the expected Corona help.

The Supervisory Board approved the annual financial statements for 2019 in mid-May. At the same time, the company published the annual report. The previous edition still had 148 pages, now there are 40. There is no management report with statements about the economic risks and remuneration of the management. There has been no head of finance since Heike Fölster's departure in February. It was not until September that the post was filled with Aletta von Massenbach.

The Augsburg professor of corporate management, Erik Lehmann, was amazed. "It is very strange and striking," he said. For state-owned companies in particular, comprehensive reports are necessary so that parliaments and taxpayers can get an idea. The states are Berlin and Brandenburg with 37 percent each and the federal government with 26 percent.

The company said: "FBB has reduced the 2019 annual report to the essential information that can be used to describe the 2019 financial year." It should not be confused with the annual financial statements under the Commercial Code, which must be published in the Federal Gazette. This will appear by the end of the year.

The airport company ended 2019 with a loss in the millions as in previous years. Airport chief Engelbert Lütke Daldrup attributed this to the permanent construction site of the new capital city airport BER.