COLOGNE (dpa-AFX) - German aviation group Deutsche Lufthansa AG (DLAKF.PK, DLAKY.PK) reported Tuesday a net profit for the first quarter compared to a loss last year, as all operating segments contributed to earnings improvement, particularly SWISS and Lufthansa Cargo.
The airlines in the Lufthansa Group improved their traffic figures in the passenger business year-on-year in the first quarter, while traffic in the cargo business was down. Looking ahead, the company backed its fiscal 2015 EBIT forecast.
For the three-month period, the company reported net profit attributable to shareholders of 425 million euros or $473 million compared to a net loss of 252 million euros in the prior-year quarter. Earnings per share were 0.92 euros, versus a loss of 0.55 euros per share last year.
Total revenue for the quarter grew 7.9 percent to 6.97 billion euros from 6.46 billion euros in the same quarter last year.
Lufthansa said on adjusted basis, loss before interest and taxes for the quarter narrowed to 167 million euros from 240 million euros last year.
Traffic revenues improved 5.0 percent year-over-year to 5.42 billion euros. The Passenger Airline Group's share of total revenue fell 1.8 percentage points in the first quarter to 71.6 percent.
Operating result was a loss of 133 million euros, narrower than 209 million euros loss a year ago. Operating expenses grew 11.5 percent to 8.02 billion euros from last year, despite a 13.8 percent drop in fuel expenses.
In the quarter, the number of passengers edged down 0.8 percent to 21.56 million from last year. Traffic, measured as revenue seat-kilometres, improved 1.3 percent to 44.69 billion RSKs, and capacity, measured as available seat-kilometres, increased 1.0 percent to 58.92 billion ASKs from a year ago.
Freight and mail volume declined 2.4 percent to 451 thousand tonnes from a year ago.
Overall load factor dropped 0.5 points to 72.4 percent, with a 2.5 points decline in cargo load factor to 69.2 percent partly offset by a 0.5 points growth in passenger load factor to 75.8 percent.
The company noted that flight cancellations caused by strikes led to a burden on the result of 42 million euros. Due to weaker advance bookings in the following quarters as a consequence of the strike, Lufthansa expects a further burden on the result of 58 million euros.
In March, Lufthansa's low-cost airline Germanwings had crashed in the French Alps, leaving scars on its parent company.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2015, the Lufthansa Group continues to expect an adjusted EBIT of more than 1.5 billion euros, before strike costs. It also projects revenues to be slightly below last year's 30.01 billion euros.
On Frankfurt's Xetra, Lufthansa shares closed on Monday at 12.67 euros, up 0.15 euros on a volume of 5.31 million euros.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2015 AFX News
