[ad_1]
LISBON: Portugal‘s flag carrier TAP reported on Tuesday a 62% jump in third-quarter net profit to a record 180.5 million euros ($192 million) as robust revenue growth and strict cost controls lifted operating margins before its planned privatisation.
The state-owned airline also saw a record profit for the first nine months of this year, of 203.5 million euros, reversing a year-earlier loss of 90.8 million.
TAP said its third quarter operating revenue rose 12.5% to 1.26 billion euros from a year earlier, also surpassing the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, with ticket revenue growing 18% to 1.18 billion from 2022 levels.
Passenger traffic reached 90% of the numbers carried in the same quarter of 2019, it said.
The government kicked off TAP’s privatisation process last month and plans to sell a minimum 51%. At least three major global carriers – IAG, Lufthansa, and Air France-KLM – have so far shown interest in TAP.
Quaterly operating costs rose just 1.5% from a year ago to 978 million euros, as a 23% drop in fuel costs nearly offset a 60.5% jump in wage costs as the company had to reverse most of the pay cuts imposed under a restructuring plan.
TAP’s recurring earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 42% to 380.4 million euros and its EBITDA margin – a measure of profitability – rose to 31% from 25% a year ago.
Chief Executive Officer Luis Rodrigues said the results were encouraging, as the airline was taking solid steps to improve its robustness, “accelerating the recovery from the last two difficult years”.
“The significant increase in revenues, supported by resilient operating margins and a strong deleveraging path, prove the group’s financial strength in a challenging environment,” he said in a statement.
The airline carried 4.54 million passengers in the third quarter, up from 4.32 million in the same period last year.
Net debt ended September as 671 million euros, down from 702 million euros at the end of 2022, with the net debt/EBITDA ratio improving to 2.4 times versus 3.5 times.
The state-owned airline also saw a record profit for the first nine months of this year, of 203.5 million euros, reversing a year-earlier loss of 90.8 million.
TAP said its third quarter operating revenue rose 12.5% to 1.26 billion euros from a year earlier, also surpassing the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, with ticket revenue growing 18% to 1.18 billion from 2022 levels.
Passenger traffic reached 90% of the numbers carried in the same quarter of 2019, it said.
The government kicked off TAP’s privatisation process last month and plans to sell a minimum 51%. At least three major global carriers – IAG, Lufthansa, and Air France-KLM – have so far shown interest in TAP.
Quaterly operating costs rose just 1.5% from a year ago to 978 million euros, as a 23% drop in fuel costs nearly offset a 60.5% jump in wage costs as the company had to reverse most of the pay cuts imposed under a restructuring plan.
TAP’s recurring earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 42% to 380.4 million euros and its EBITDA margin – a measure of profitability – rose to 31% from 25% a year ago.
Chief Executive Officer Luis Rodrigues said the results were encouraging, as the airline was taking solid steps to improve its robustness, “accelerating the recovery from the last two difficult years”.
“The significant increase in revenues, supported by resilient operating margins and a strong deleveraging path, prove the group’s financial strength in a challenging environment,” he said in a statement.
The airline carried 4.54 million passengers in the third quarter, up from 4.32 million in the same period last year.
Net debt ended September as 671 million euros, down from 702 million euros at the end of 2022, with the net debt/EBITDA ratio improving to 2.4 times versus 3.5 times.
#Portuguese #airline #TAPs #quarter #profit #soars #record #high
