Fonte:
The Times Online
British Airways (BA) today announced its first first-quarterly loss since privatisation in 1987 as passenger numbers continue to plunge.
The £94 million operating loss for the three months to the end of June was better than forecast, sending shares in the company up 3.8 per cent to 139.4p in early trading, but BA warned that trading conditions remained “very challenging”. Pre-tax losses for the period reached £148 million.
The loss is the worst since BA was privatised in February 1987 and its shares listed on the London Stock Exchange at 125p.
BA said its revenues were down 12.2 per cent in its first quarter to £1.98 billion, although the decline would have been 16.8 per cent without a positive impact from exchange rates.
The airline had guided at its annual general meeting earlier in July that it would lose about £100 million but was able to marginally improve on that through cost reduction of 6.6 per cent during the quarter. In the same quarter last year it made a profit of £35 million.
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of BA, has launched a cost-cutting drive that has reduced manpower by the equivalent of 1,450 jobs since March.
The airline will also stop serving meals to economy class passengers on short-haul flights of two and a half hours or less to save a further £22 million.
To boost its balance sheet, BA raised £680 million two weeks ago by issuing a convertible bond and increasing debt.
Mr Walsh said: "Trading conditions continue to be very challenging with underlying revenue down 16.8 per cent and no visible signs of improvement.
“While traffic volumes are down considerably compared to last year, they have stabilised during the quarter and show some signs of improvement for the peak summer months."
Mr Walsh added that there remained considerable uncertainty in the timing of an economic recovery and the airline's yields - the amount it earns for each seat flown. BA's yield declined by 9.7 per cent in the first quarter due to lower ticket prices and a greater concentration on economy-class sales.
The airline has announced plans to reduce its capacity by 3.5 per cent this summer to cope with the drop in demand and this will increase to 5 per cent in the winter. By winter 2010, BA expects to have grounded 22 aircraft from its fleet.
However, there was some good news as Mr Walsh said that sales and yields were expected to increase during the peak summer months and accounting changes to debt and fuel hedging instruments led to a non-cash increase in reserves of £467 million.
The Times Online
British Airways (BA) today announced its first first-quarterly loss since privatisation in 1987 as passenger numbers continue to plunge.
The £94 million operating loss for the three months to the end of June was better than forecast, sending shares in the company up 3.8 per cent to 139.4p in early trading, but BA warned that trading conditions remained “very challenging”. Pre-tax losses for the period reached £148 million.
The loss is the worst since BA was privatised in February 1987 and its shares listed on the London Stock Exchange at 125p.
BA said its revenues were down 12.2 per cent in its first quarter to £1.98 billion, although the decline would have been 16.8 per cent without a positive impact from exchange rates.
The airline had guided at its annual general meeting earlier in July that it would lose about £100 million but was able to marginally improve on that through cost reduction of 6.6 per cent during the quarter. In the same quarter last year it made a profit of £35 million.
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of BA, has launched a cost-cutting drive that has reduced manpower by the equivalent of 1,450 jobs since March.
The airline will also stop serving meals to economy class passengers on short-haul flights of two and a half hours or less to save a further £22 million.
To boost its balance sheet, BA raised £680 million two weeks ago by issuing a convertible bond and increasing debt.
Mr Walsh said: "Trading conditions continue to be very challenging with underlying revenue down 16.8 per cent and no visible signs of improvement.
“While traffic volumes are down considerably compared to last year, they have stabilised during the quarter and show some signs of improvement for the peak summer months."
Mr Walsh added that there remained considerable uncertainty in the timing of an economic recovery and the airline's yields - the amount it earns for each seat flown. BA's yield declined by 9.7 per cent in the first quarter due to lower ticket prices and a greater concentration on economy-class sales.
The airline has announced plans to reduce its capacity by 3.5 per cent this summer to cope with the drop in demand and this will increase to 5 per cent in the winter. By winter 2010, BA expects to have grounded 22 aircraft from its fleet.
However, there was some good news as Mr Walsh said that sales and yields were expected to increase during the peak summer months and accounting changes to debt and fuel hedging instruments led to a non-cash increase in reserves of £467 million.
,
