SAS: increased quarterly loss, costs raise questions

(CercleFinance.com) - SAS announced on Thursday that it had increased its losses over the past quarter, a worrying trend at a time when the Scandinavian airline - which is in the midst of restructuring - is expected to cut costs sharply.


This morning, the airline reported a net loss of SEK 1.9 billion for the fourth quarter to the end of October, well above the SEK 1.2 billion reported a year ago.

In its press release, SAS explained that it had suffered from unfavorable currency effects, as well as higher oil prices, and warned that its cost-cutting measures would take time to materialize.

Over the quarter, some 6.8 million passengers travelled on its routes, 18% more than at the same time last year.

SAS also reported "progress" towards exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the USA.

The company completed its recapitalization plan at the beginning of the month, with a group of investors including Castlelake, Air France-KLM, Lind Invest and the Danish government.

At 11:45 a.m., SAS shares were down 6.5%, while the STOXX Europe 600 Travel & Leisure sector index lost 0.2%.

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