Originally Posted by
Arthur D
T- I can Google FCF as well.
Your straw man argument suggesting that all is good at VA because they have free cash is a distraction.
AN tried this argument too, as they say, money talks, BS walks.
To suggest their situation is anything short of parlous is at best wishful thinking. This is a business that has chewed nearly $2 Billion dollars of investors money without producing a return. It has brutally punished those poor shareholders who bought into the IPO.
This, in a market where their competitor just posted nearly $1 billion in profit from their domestic business alone! This off the back of consistent year on year profits. On a market share basis, VA’s share of the profits pie should have been at least a $300m PROFIT. Where is it? Clearly the issue is not the market.
To paraphrase Rod Eddington - it might be a great airline, but its a poor business. Problem is, unlike AN, this is not even a great airline.
But hey, you might be right, all of this will rapidly change, the new CEO will discover what clearly eluded previous management, the board and long suffering shareholders and voila....... profit.
Agree... this 'free cash flow' is just crap... it might be a positive sign for the airline... but at the end of the day, outgoings exceed incomings and that's not a 'negative result', it's not 'sub-optimal', it's not 'showing signs' of anything, it's a DAMN LOSS... another one making 7 in a row. I am worried about the many good people who work for this outfit who have been subject to continual losses and a cloud while the management kept talking about 'free cash flow' and 'net positives' and all the rest of the crap. They. Don't. Make. A. Profit. End of story. But it's worse than Ansett in one way... where would they be if the owners hadn't poured in so much cash. Bankrupt, that appears where.