10/11/2003

BA's quarterly pre-tax profits slip to £105m

British Airways has today announced a pre-tax profit of £105 million for the three months ended September 30 – down £140 million on last year's mark.

As yields in the second quarter dipped 5.9% (down from plus 1.2% in 2002), the three-month pre-tax figures took the result for the half-year to £60 million profit, compared with £310 million 12-months previously.

Revealing that half-year operating profit was £235 million (down from £406 million in 2002), BA said that there would be no interim dividend.

Net debt was £4.8 billion, down by £342 million since the start of the year, its lowest level since June 1998, the company said.

Rod Eddington, British Airways chief executive, said: “Despite a difficult quarter, which included unofficial industrial action at Heathrow, the results show that both our Future Size and Shape recovery programme and other business plan initiatives are helping to offset the continued deterioration in revenue."

BA said that they had cut annual costs by £701 million – £51 million above their target rating – mostly through reducing staff count by 12,087. The company aims to cuts 13,000 jobs by March 2004.

In order to achieve more savings, the company said that it would continue to "simplify and modernise our business".

Lord Marshall, the airline’s chairman, said: “Trading patterns seen over the last few months point to a more stable outlook for revenue. The recent positive economic news from the United States is a welcome development, but is not yet showing in forward bookings. In the soft revenue environment, continued delivery of business efficiency and cost improvement is core to improving profitability."

(gmcg)

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