British Airways slumped to a record loss, nearly doubled its debt pile and canceled its dividend, adding that the tough conditions made it impossible to give any guidance for the current period.
Europe’s third-biggest airline by revenue posted operating losses of £220 million (US$347.5 million) yesterday, compared with a profit of £875 million in 2007-2008.
It had earlier in the year forecast a loss of £150 million, not including restructuring costs of around £80 million.
“The revenue outlook continues to be weak during the current financial year ... In light of this, the board is unable to recommend a dividend this year,” chairman Martin Broughton said in a statement.
BA said it would continue cost-cutting, while flying capacity for next winter will be cut by 4 percent.
The British carrier’s debt rose to £2.4 billion, from £1.3 billion the previous year, while its cash position slid £483 million to just under £1.4 billion.
Analysts and shareholders have been concerned about the group’s pension deficit, which was valued at £1.5 billion in March last year, but is likely to have grown substantially since then.
“If the financial markets deteriorate further, our pension deficit may increase, impacting balance sheet liabilities, which may in turn affect our ability to raise additional funds,” the company said in the statement.
A full actuarial review of the retirement scheme is currently underway, with the results expected to be published in late summer.
The pension deficit has been an issue during merger talks with Spanish partner Iberia, but the Madrid-based airline said last week it was more focused on its own performance than the tie-up discussions.
Air France-KLM showed a glimmer of hope for the battered industry earlier this week when it posted a narrower than expected operating loss, also by squeezing costs.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
RSS