All Stories
Follow
Subscribe to Air Berlin PLC

Air Berlin PLC

Air Berlin increases net profit

London/Berlin (euro adhoc) -

Despite LTU integration, net profit for the third quarter exceeds EUR
60 million
  ots.CorporateNews transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for
  the content of this announcement.
air transport/9-month report/Q3-report
In the third quarter of 2007, the Air
Berlin Group transported 12 percent more passengers than during the 
corresponding quarter of the previous year, increased its fleet 
capacity utilization by 2.3 percentage points, raised its sales 
volume by 7.2 percent and, with net profit exceeding EUR 60 million, 
achieved the highest quarterly net profit in its corporate history. 
However, Management is not entirely satisfied with this performance. 
Due to the delayed LTU acquisition, the envisioned synergy effects 
did not reach their full potential. One-time charges for integration 
and restructuring totaled EUR 13 million.
The Group consisting of Air Berlin, dba and LTU (the latter included 
for the months of August and September) increased its seating 
capacity in the third quarter of 2007 by 8.9 percent in comparison 
with the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The fleet 
increased to 126 aircraft from 118. The number of passengers welcomed
on board increased by 12 percent, and with 8.08 million passengers 
transported, the seat load factor improved from 81.5 to 83.7 percent.
Sales volume increased from EUR 799.9 million to EUR 857.6 million, 
i.e. an increase of 7.2 percent. Whereas EBITDAR (Earnings before 
interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and leasing expenses) 
increased by 12.5 percent from EUR 155.4 million to EUR 174.8 
million, EBIT (Earnings before interest and taxes) increased by 
merely 0.7 percent from EUR 69.6 million to EUR 69.8 million. Lastly,
due to favorable financial and tax results, net profit increased from
EUR 50.9 million to EUR 60.8 million (+19.4 percent).
"Synergies to take effect in 2008"
As Joachim Hunold, Air Berlin´s CEO, stated in Berlin on Tuesday: 
"Despite the good performance in the third quarter, these figures put
us in the lowest bracket of our planning for the nine-month period. 
This state of affairs is partially due to the modest performance in 
the second quarter and also to the circumstance that we were not able
to integrate LTU prior to 8 August. Only from that point in time 
onwards were we able to optimize LTU´s yield management and capacity 
control. It was not possible to eliminate overlapping flights between
Air Berlin and LTU due to the elevated number of reservations. 
Therefore, we have not yet been able to realize the planned synergy 
effects to their full extent. We had to take a one-time charge for 
integration and restructuring measures amounting to EUR 13.2 million.
However, in 2008, these synergies will take effect."
On the right track with cost reduction
Ulf Hüttmeyer, Air Berlin´s Chief Financial Officer, commented on the
individual results as follows: "Due to the competitive environment, 
the introduction of new flight routes and increased flight 
frequencies, and the introductory prices associated therewith, 
revenue per passenger decreased by 4 percent to average EUR 106. 
Profit per available seat kilometer decreased by 1.2 percent, i.e. 
from 5.84 to 5.77 Eurocents. Nevertheless, this development was 
significantly more stable than in the second quarter, during which 
the decline in yield still exceeded 5 percent. Despite the charge for
restructuring, we succeeded in cutting cost at the EBITDAR level by 
2.6 percent, and in increasing the margin by one percentage point to 
20.4 percent of sales revenue. Due to the increased costs for wet 
leases, EBIT, with a margin of 8.1 percent, is only slightly below 
that of the previous year (8.7 percent). With almost EUR 70 million, 
Air Berlin´s operating income lies, just like the sales volume, at 
the lower end of our planning range, which was between EUR 68 million
and EUR 81 million. However, at more than EUR 60 million, net income 
has exceeded our expectations. We had anticipated a net income 
between EUR 48 million and EUR 57 million. Over the first nine 
months, we earned EUR 31 million, as compared to EUR 34 million in 
the corresponding period of the previous year."
Chief Executive Officer Joachim Hunold concluded: "We have now laid 
the foundations for optimally positioning ourselves strategically for
the future. As of now, we will concentrate on cutting additional 
costs. 2008 will be the year of increased profit for the Air Berlin 
Group."
end of announcement                               euro adhoc 20.11.2007 07:51:52

Further inquiry note:

Peter Hauptvogel
Director of Corporate Communications Air Berlin
phone: +49 30 3434 1500
e-mail: abpresse@airberlin.com

Branche: Air Transport
ISIN: GB00B128C026
WKN: AB1000
Index: Classic All Share, Prime All Share, SDAX
Börsen: Börse Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Börse Berlin / free trade
Börse Hamburg / free trade
Börse Stuttgart / free trade
Börse Düsseldorf / free trade
Börse München / free trade

Original content of: Air Berlin PLC, transmitted by news aktuell

More stories: Air Berlin PLC
More stories: Air Berlin PLC