AER LINGUS REPORTS REVENUE DROP OF 11% - Aer Lingus has reported an operating loss of €81m for 2009 while revenues fell by 11% to €1.205 billion from €1.355 billion. The airline this morning published an unaudited trading update for last year after delaying the publication of its annual results as it holds an emergency board meeting to consider alternative plans to achieve €97m in savings. All five workers' groups at the company have held separate ballots on the proposed restructuring plan. Last night craft workers, who are members of the Unite union, approved the plan with 83% voting in favour. However, cabin crew had already rejected it by nearly two to one.
Stephen Furlong, an equity analyst at Davy, says the operating loss of €81m is slightly better than had been expected, and sees the airline making profits of €12m in the second half of the year after losses of €93m for the first six months of 2009. He says that while things are still very difficult at Aer Lingus, they may be getting a little bit better.
The analyst says that this morning's trading update contains no outlook, but this morning's figures show that its average fares fell by almost 17%. Its ancillary revenues - such as car hire - grew by over 16%. He also points out that the company has net cash balances of €335m.
He says that the market is losing patience in general at the pace of the airline achieving its cost cutting plan and says timing is imperative.
