Air Transport Intelligence reporting BMI p/t profit at 10m squid, op profit at 5.5m. Black but not that black IMHO.

Near 30% reduction in its overall debt level is not bad at all given difficult trading conditions. Plenty of airlines would dearly love to cut theirs by that much, and it appears to have been achieved without that old favourite - reduction of staff.

I wonder if income from sale of slots is counted in the turnover figures or the exceptional items?

You could reduce the group's net debt to zero if you flogged off all of the Heathrow slots in one go. I think they had sold two or three sets during 2005 so at a notional £10m each, that's between £20 and £30m to the bottom line. If my assumptions are indeed correct, the underlying operation has thus lost money.

Also bear in mind that it only contains August-December results (it is for 2005 calendar year) with the New Business Model in operation.

A welcome set of results if surprising.

But I am not an accountant so cannot comment on accounting methods.

Do these results already take into account the Lufti/SAS contributions?

Objective answers on a postcard, no slating for the sake of it please

Yes I believe they do. Logon to the bmi website/press releases and the Chairman`s comments imply the ECA contributions are included.
Glad to see we are on the road to recovery, although clearly there are plenty of challenges ahead.

Sorry, the comments were by the CEO in an internal memo, not by SMB.

The results will include the substantial ECA contribution and exceptional items. God help them when the ECA ends and they run out of things to sell!

Glad to see bmi are now allowing economy passengers to choose their own seat on line now. Some positive news. (Not available for Tiny fares)

As far as I am led to believe or have been made aware, they can't sell the slots as they are not there's to sell and the slots are not included in an yearly figures.

What a load of claptrap. bmi's slots at Heathrow are its own and it has every right to enter into slot swap arrangements with other airlines to exchange them for worthless slots and then get a significant chunk of cash behind the scenes from the receiving airline for its troubles.

Hence me saying as far I had been led to believe, can't you read.

Now that bmi have announced pre tax profit - where have all the nay sayers gone now. Seems to me that those of you who had bmi hung out to dry have been too busy eating humble pie.....


Hope it tastes good.

I make absolutely no apologies for saying that I still believe this is a business with fundamental problems. Having seen them sell two sets of Heathrow slots during 2005, the amount arising from that must be included somewhere in the P&L figures. At around £10m per pair, that's £20m and it more than wipes out any profit that bmi may have made during the last year.

If you add to that the new business model started in August 05 and thus the accounts only include five months of NBM instead of a full year - and the outward signs are that it is not working - then next year's results could be a very different story unless they keep selling slots.

And one last point. The Lufthansa and SAS loss-sharing agreement comes to an end this year. If you remove the contributions that LH and SK have made into bmi's revenues during 2005, what impact does that have on the P&L? I'm certain that it will make the situation for bmi far worse.

So, Mod Kit, still here - and still thinking that there is a huge mountain to climb for this company to have a chance in the long term.

flightrider

May I ask which two slots and too whom were they sold?

Thanks

lamina - slots i believe were sold to emirates, who now fly to dubai 5 times a day from LHR

Mod kit - i dont think you understand the way bmi do business !!!
read flightriders post again !

Flightrider - spot on mate :ok:

Mod Kit
Yes, better than expected and great to see it, but I find it disappointing that these figures have been glorified both by the company and press alike when they mask the true picture. These figures DO indeed take into account the substantial contribution made by Lufti/SAS. Take away this subsidy, and the figures would be much more worrying.

[QUOTE=Mod Kit]Now that bmi have announced pre tax profit - where have all the nay sayers gone now. Seems to me that those of you who had bmi hung out to dry have been too busy eating humble pie..... [QUOTE]

I have not seen the detail of these so cannot comment in detail. However, the fact that BD are now not permitting traffic figures to be published may provide some evidence of the way things are going.

Flightrider has the situation well and truly summed up IMHO. Take away the "fudge factors" and all the spin and a very different story emerges.

Hang on a sec

This pre-tax profit does not come anywhere near covering the losses incurred by bmi's partners on the european code share. That is reported to be running at £20M/year.

Take away the easy profit of their most profitable route (BHD) and it looks even worse. With Air Berlin moving in at BHD offering connecting flights it's not looking too rosy there either.

There will soon be a few more slots for sale to bolster up next years "Profits"

My earlier posting has had the desired effect. I was tired of reading pointless postings about a company with no backbone and 'stupid employees'.

I agree with all the points raised since my outburst (which was equally incorrect) but at least there have been constructive points raised since, and seemingly from those of you who have a great deal more knowledge on the workings of bmi than I.