The way it reads is that instead of making 60 million they actually lost 40. So they got it wrong by 100 million? How can you possibly screw up that much? Maybe they only made 20 million but advertiesed it as a 40 million loss in projected earnings? Accountants can make anything a profit or a loss these days.
You're right, it is how it's worded. If you read the article again (did you actually read it the first time?) you'll notice words like "forecast profit", "2008-2009", and "UBS." UBS is a finance company, the article is talking about the profit UBS (not Virgin Blue) has forecast for the 2008-2009 financial year. UBS initially forecast a $60M profit for
VB but have revised it down to a $40M loss. This is not about
VB getting it wrong, it is about an independant finance company revising its opinion of
VB. This is not about losing $100M in a few weeks it's about changing the forecast for what may happen over the next year.
I know, the English language is
awfully difficult
.