Aegean Airlines reports widening losses in nine months ended Sep-2012

Aegean Airlines revenue down 5% - financial highlights for nine months ended 30-Sep-2012:

• Revenue: EUR511.3 million, -5% year-on-year;
• EBITDAR: EUR53.3 million, -19%;
• Profit (loss) before tax: (EUR10.6 million), compared to a loss of EUR2.9 million in p-c-p;
• Profit (loss) after tax: (EUR8.7 million), compared to a loss of EUR2.7 million in p-c-p;
• Passenger numbers: 4.9 million, -6%;
  • Domestic: 2.1 million, -3%;
  • International: 2.8 million, -1%;
• Load factor: 73.9%, +4.7 ppts. [more - original PR]

Aegean Airlines: "Local consumer trends and business sentiment continue to deteriorate. The number of foreign visitors to Athens also continues to decline, indeed at higher rate than last year. However, Aegean has successfully exploited the post July rebound in incoming traffic to the rest of the country's main island/regional tourism destinations, through increasing its operations from its 5 additional bases in Greece and enhancing its market shares and load factors. Substantial cost management efforts are also yielding savings but not yet sufficient to cover the weakness in domestic demand and higher fuel prices. Our estimate for the full year stands at a pre-tax loss in the range of 4-5% of revenue, meaning a third consecutive loss making year," Dimitris Gerogiannis, managing director. Source: Company statement, 21-Nov-2012.