British Airways announces £50 million quarterly loss
In the three months to December 2009 British Airways lost £50 million which is very much less than many analysts had been expecting. The £50 million loss compares to a £122 million loss in the same period for 2008 although the pre-tax loss for the nine months ended December 2009 rose from £70 million in the corresponding period to £342 million.
As we have mentioned on numerous occasions, British Airways is currently locked in legal wrangles with the unions who have threatened strike action on more than one occasion. While these court wranglings continue it seems as though cost-cutting exercises introduced by chief executive Willie Walsh are starting to hit home and impact upon the bottom line. Analysts had been expecting a loss of £151 million in the third quarter so the actual loss of £50 million is a major improvement.
Even though the company is certain to make record losses for the full year as a whole, operating costs have been slashed by 10.5% and many analysts are surprised at the speed at which the cost base has been cut. While there is still much work to be done to pull a company out of the financial mire there is no doubt that progress has been made.
Share this..
Related stories
LDV in a final throw of the dice
It has been revealed that John Caudwell, the founder of Phones 4U, has asked for further details from the administrators of UK van manufacturer LDV. The company went into administration earlier this month and while the future looks bleak after it was cut adrift by its parent company the UK entrepreneur John Caudwell is believed to be interested. While John Caudwell has initially played down his in...
Read MoreIs the Bank of England set to increase the quantitative easing fund?
Having already spent a significant £75 billion on the quantitative easing program, the small print from last month's MPC meeting seems to indicate that a further £50 billion will be used in the short term and then the bank will revert back to the Treasury for further discussions. Initially the government had put aside £150 billion for the overall of quantitative easing program but many expect t...
Read MoreFidelity Investment offers advice and guidance
If you have even taken a glimpse at how the stock market works and what is on offer you would probably wonder where you start. Which country do you look at first, which sector and that is before we even get down to the company(s) you should be looking at. Then there is the most vital element of any investment, timing, when do you invest?
Read More
US government looking for financial overhaul
President Obama will today urge the US Congress to approve a mass of changes to the US financial system just one year to the day since the collapse of Lehman Bros. This is a very poignant moment for the US financial markets because the collapse of Lehman Bros ultimately compounded the collapse of the worldwide financial system. The fact that president Obama is looking to use this anniversary to pu...
Read MoreWoolworths distribution arm Entertainment UK goes into administration
News that Woolworths UK distribution arm, Entertainment UK, has gone into administration may well leave many retailers short of CDs and DVDs in the run-up to the Christmas period. There had been hopes that the business could be saved in the short term but this appears to be a forlorn hope at this moment in time.
The business was one of the largest suppliers of CDs and DVDs in the UK...