Earnings Preview: British Airways to post Q2 loss
Associated Press, 11.04.09, 07:25 AM EST
LONDON -- British Airways reports earnings for its second quarter ending Sept. 30 on Friday before the stock market opens. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.
OVERVIEW: British Airways is expected to report a loss in what is normally one of its best quarters as the company struggles to cope with a recession which has depressed the air travel market. Unions are resisting the company's efforts to cut costs.
BA reported a net loss of 106 million pounds in the first quarter, compared to a profit of 27 million pounds a year earlier.
The company has been hurt by a decrease in premium traffic. In September, BA said traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometers, was down by 0.8 percent - with premium traffic down 7.9 percent and non-premium up 0.7 percent.
Nonetheless, BA launched a new premium-priced service between the close-in London City Airport and New York on Sept. 29, using Airbus A318s configured with 32 beds.
Looking for any way to boost revenue, BA announced in August that it would sell advertising space on its Web site and boarding passes.
BY THE NUMBERS: The average analyst forecast is that BA will report a pretax loss of 252 million pounds for the first half, following a first-quarter pretax loss of 148 million pounds. Revenue is forecast to be down 13 percent at 4.13 billion pounds.
ANALYST TAKE: Nick Cunningham at Evolution Securities says BA faces "very tough, risky conditions" but has the capital to get through to an eventual recovery.
"This is normally the most profitable quarter of the year but yields have been extremely weak industrywide and it will be a struggle for BA to have remained profitable. We think it will just have managed that but many do not and forecasts are too dispersed to be called a consensus, emphasizing the scale of uncertainty. Meanwhile BA is tackling costs but is unlikely to become structurally profitable again until sometime in FY 2011."
WHAT'S AHEAD: BA may face strikes over the Christmas/New Year period.
STOCK PERFORMANCE: BA shares rose from 127.5 pence on June 30 to 220.5 pence at the end of the second quarter. Shares currently are trading around 180 pence, up 20 percent from a year ago.