BA’s 3rd-quarter pre-tax profits up 9%

BA’s 3rd-quarter pre-tax profits up 9%    British Airways today reported a pre-tax profit of '164 million ($291 million) in its fiscal third quarter period ended Dec. 31, up 8.6 percent compared to '151 million in the same period in 2004.
   BA’s third quarter operating profit was up 28.6 percent to '175 million ($311 million) from '136 million. Quarterly revenue improved 8.8 percent to '2.12 billion ($3.76 billion) from '1.95 billion.
   For the nine month period, BA’s pre-tax profit is up 1.9 percent to '529 million ($940 million) compared to $519 million after the same period in previous fiscal year. Operating profit in the same period was '612 million ($1.08 billion), up 20 percent compared to $510 million. Revenue jumped 8.4 percent to '6.39 billion ($11.35 billion) from '5.89 billion. Cargo revenue per cargo ton kilometer was up 2.4 percent in the nine month period, BA said. BA transported 593 million tons of cargo in the three quarters, down 10.3 percent compared to 661 million tons a year ago.
   “Some yield improvement is still expected for this financial year. Consequently, revenue is now expected to grow by more than 8 percent,” said Martin Broughton, BA’s chairman. “Despite the improved revenue outlook, market conditions remain broadly unchanged as significant promotional activity is required to maintain seat factors.
   “Underlying costs, excluding fuel, are now expected to be some one percent higher than the guidance we gave at the beginning of the year, which was flat. Fuel costs continue to be a challenge for the industry, but our guidance is unchanged with total fuel costs expected to be up by '525 million ($933 million) this year.”