SIA posts S$68m net profit for Q4

Singapore Airlines (SIA) booked a net profit of S$68 million in the fourth quarter of its financial year ending March 31, 2013, reversing a S$38 million loss recorded in the previous year.

This is mainly due to surplus on the sale of aircraft, spares and spare engines.

However, its operating loss widened by S$39 million to S$44.2 million in the fourth quarter.

In a Singapore stock exchange filing, the carrier attributes the decline to weaker passenger and cargo yields, particularly for both SIA and SIA Cargo, which suffered operating losses for the quarter.

SIA said its Q4 revenue fell by one per cent on-year to nearly S$3.67 billion.

For the full-year, SIA posted a smaller-than-expected net profit of S$379 million, that is up by 12.8 per cent on-year.

Analysts had earlier projected a net profit of about S$410 million for the carrier. SIA said its operating performance has been affected by high fuel prices and yield pressures.

For the full-year, its group expenditure rose two per cent on-year to about S$14.9 billion. SIA said fuel accounted for 40 per cent of expenditure during the financial year.

Despite the challenging environment, the carrier said its full-year group revenue was up 1.6 per cent on-year to about S$15 billion, as a result of a 7.3 per cent passenger carriage growth, albeit at lower yields. It added that marketing activities as well as depreciation of revenue-generating currencies against the Singapore dollar drove passenger yields lower by 4.2 per cent.

Looking ahead, SIA said yields are likely to remain under pressure amid weak economic sentiment, and revenues will be further diluted if key revenue-generating currencies continue to depreciate against the Singapore dollar. It added that forward passenger bookings for the next few months are almost flat compared to the same period in 2012.

In addition, the cargo business will remain under pressure due to overcapacity in the market.

SOURCE

S$379 million ain't that bad, is it? At least it is still very much in the green. Shareholders should be able to get a good payout.