From Reuters in the FT
Cathay Pacific posts record $1bn loss
HONG KONG, March 11 – Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong’s dominant airline, posted a record loss in the second-half of 2008, dented by heavy fuel hedging losses and weak passenger demand due to the global financial crisis.
Cathay, Asia’s fifth-largest airline by market value, reported a HK$7.9bn ($1.02bn) net loss in the July-December period, according to Reuters calculations based on previously reported figures. That compared with a net profit of HK$4.4bn in the same period a year earlier.
The results were worse than an average forecast of a HK$7.3bn shortfall from 11 analysts polled by Reuters.
For the full year, Cathay posted a record net loss of HK$8.6bn, its first shortfall in a decade. But revenues rose 14.9 per cent to HK$86.6bn. The carrier announced a loss per share of HK$2.12, down sharply from earnings per share of HK$1.78 a year ago.
Shares in Cathay rose 2.1 per cent to HK$7.15 in morning trade on Wednesday ahead of the results announcement. But the firm’s stock has plunged by 41.3 per cent in the second half of 2008, underperforming the 35 per cent loss on the benchmark Hang Seng Index in the same period.