The management team at BA are good at one thing - covering their backsides!
What a wizard wheeze! Alert the City to expect a £400m loss, then announce a £200m loss and make it sound as though you've done a cracking job!
No mention of three factors:
"Go" was sold for £85m which BA said was a "good return" on its initial investment of £25m! (No mention of the first year's operating costs of £70m and the 2nd year £50m) "Go" was actually sold at a LOSS of £60m!!!
If "Go" had been retained for 1 year, it would now have fetched £375m, giving BA a profit of £175m. I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but if "Go" had gone under, BA management would have taken the glory for "offloading it" in time, now they should face the brickbats for such disastrous decision making!
The "part-time" board members paid thumping great amounts to drink coffee for a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon and compare BA's performance to that of Tesco's and suchlike! (Yes, they receive complimentary first-class travel into the bargain!)
No one, shareholders or competitors alike, wish to see the flag carrier go under, but I can see the day when the banks foreclose unless the management provide a solid foundation for re-building the former "World's Favourite" into "Britain's Facvourite"!
Last edited by bealine; 24th May 2002 at 09:42.