p15 city feb20 17/2/09 18:02 Page 15
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Q3 RESULTS.
AIRPORT SALE.
Air France-KLM in ¤194m loss
BAA bullish about
AIR FRANCE/KLM is predicting an operating The group reported average load factor up Gatwick sale price
profit for 2008-09 despite seeing third-quarter 0.3 percentage points to 79.5%, with traffic up
operating profits turn into a loss. 3.4% and capacity by 2.9%, including the VLM BAA has insisted it can still sell Gatwick at a
The airline made an operating loss of ¤194m acquisition. “significant premium” above the airport’s paper
for the last three months of 2009, compared with Long-haul traffic was “relatively resilient” but valuation of £1.64bn — despite potential buyers’
a ¤311m profit for the same period in 2007. a big drop in premium cabin revenue was not interest cooling.
It blamed the decline on the “increasing offset by a better performance in economy. Ferrovial, the airport operator’s owner, wants
severity of the economic downturn” and steep It said it had a “healthy” financial position with to raise £2bn from the sale, but none of the
drops in premium traffic and cargo. cash of ¤4.3bn as at December 31 and available initial six bidders are thought to have offered
The airline group is now expected to delay credit of a further ¤1.4bn. anywhere near that figure.
the delivery of a total of about five aircraft Three of the original potential buyers were
from Boeing and Airbus by at least two years to
Air France-KLM: Q3 (Oct-Dec 2008)
reported to be out of the race this week.
rein in costs. Two of those bidders, a consortium led by the
It is also reducing capacity by 2% for summer 3i Infrastructure investment fund, which was
this year, cutting capital expenditure of ¤1.2bn, reported to be unwilling to meet the asking price
and abandoning some fuel price hedging in the current economic climate, and another led
agreements made before the price of oil dropped by Deutsche Bank have pulled out of the
dramatically towards the end of last year. bidding process, according to reports this week,
The group, which acquired Belgian carrier VLM while German infrastructure company Hochtief
last year, is still predicting an operating profit in
Operating loss ¤194m ($311m profit 2007-08)
was said to have been “dropped”.
the 2008-09 financial year, but said the level
Revenue ¤5.97bn
That leaves three bidders — Manchester Air-
would depend on economic developments in the
Cash ¤4.3bn as at December 31
ports Group, Global Infrastructure Partners and
Operating costs ¤6.2bn (up 8.9%)
rest of the year, particularly in cargo, which was
Fuel costs ¤1.6bn (up 45.3%)
Lysander Gatwick Investment Group — attempting
facing “extremely difficult conditions”. to raise funds as sources of finance dry up.
20.02.2009 15
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